MEN  AND  MEASURES 
OF  HALF  A  CENTURY 


HUGH  McCuiLocH 


LIBRARY 

OF    THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Accession  Class 


MEN  AND   MEASURES   OP 
HALF  A   CENTURY 


MEN    AND   MEASURES    OF 
HALF    A    CENTURY 


SKETCHES  AND   COMMENTS 


BY 


HUGH    McCULLOCH 

SECRETARY    OF    THE    TREASURY    IN    THE    ADMINISTRATIONS    OF 
PRESIDENTS    LINCOLN,   JOHNSON,   AND    ARTHUR 


NEW    YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBXER'S   SONS 

1888 


C'OPYRIGHT,    1888.    BY 

CHAKLKS   SCIUBNEirS  SONS. 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Ca 
Astor  Place,  New  York. 


TO  MY  WIFE 

WHO    FOR    NEARLY    FIFTY    YEARS,    HAS    BEEN    TO    ME 

IN  THE  FULLEST  SENSE  OF  THE  WORD,  A  HELP-MATE, 

I    DEDICATE   THIS  BOOK 


99498 


PREFACE. 

IN  the  following  pages,  which,  when  I  began  to  write, 
were  intended  only  for  my  family  and  personal 
friends,  I  have  spoken  of  men  and  things  as  they  came 
to  mind,  without  regard  to  order  or  consecutiveness. 
Many  of  the  men  were  known  only  in  limited  circles, 
but  they  were  well  known  there,  and  the  impressions 
which  they  made  upon  me  have  not  been  effaced  nor 
weakened  by  intervening  years.  Of  some  prominent 
persons  I  have  spoken  with  great  freedom,  but  neither 
as  eulogist  nor  critic.  Their  historic  deeds  form  impor 
tant  chapters  in  the  national  history,  and  what  I  have 
said  about  them,  if  it  is  not  now,  will,  I  think,  ere  long, 
be  in  accord  with  the  sentiment  of  a  large  majority  of 
their  countrymen. 

Our  civil  war  was  the  result  of  the  differences 
between  the  free  and  the  slave-holding  States  in  their 
social  and  civil  institutions.  Loner  before  the  war  it  had 

O 

become  apparent  to  thoughtful  men  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  that  these  differences  were  irreconcilable ;  that 
the  national  unity  could  not  be  preserved  unless  slavery 
were  nationalized  or  uprooted.  That  it  could  not  be 
nationalized  was  certain;  that  it  could  not  be  uprooted 
by  any  constitutional  exercise  of  Federal  power  was 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

also  certain.  At  the  same  time  there  was  a  radical 
difference  of  opinion  between  the  citizens  of  the  free  and 
the  citizens  of  the  slave-holding  States  in  regard  to  the 
character  of  the  Government.  In  the  free  States  the 
prevailing  opinion  was  that  the  Government  was  formed 
"  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  ; "  that  by  the  Con 
stitution  the  States  were  bound  together  in  a  union 
that  could  not  be  severed  except  by  a  revolution,  or  by 
a  change  in  this  organic  law  in  accordance  with  its  pro 
visions.  In  the  slave-holding  States  the  prevailing 
opinion  was,  that  the  Government  was  a  league  between 
sovereign  States,  which  had  united  for  certain  govern 
mental  purposes,  and  that  their  sovereignty,  which  had 
been  conditionally  relinquished,  might  be  resumed  by 
them,  or  by  any  of  them,  whenever,  in  their  judgment, 
their  interests  required  it.  I  have  not,  therefore,  spoken 
of  the  civil  war  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  States  as 
treasonable,  nor  of  those  who  were  on  that  side  engaged 
in  it,  as  having  been  traitors.  Open  rebellion  is 
attempted  revolution — not  treason.  Successful  rebellion 
against  real,  or  even  supposed,  oppression  is  always  and 
everywhere  honored  ;  it  does  not  become  treason  by 
unsuccess.  If  the  colonies  had  not  achieved  their  inde 
pendence  (and  they  would  not  when  they  did,  even  with 
France  as  an  ally,  if  the  mother  country  had  not  had 
plenty  of  work  nearer  home),  they  would  not  have  been 
guilty  of  treason.  Treason  is  committed  by  individuals, 
not  by  uprising  communities. 

Whatever  one  may  think  of  the  folly  or  the  wicked- 


PREFACE.  IX 

* 

ness  of  those  who  precipitated  the  war,  one  cannot  help 
feeling  that  it  was,  after  all  that  may  be  said  about  it,  a 
necessity ;  nor  can  one  help  admiring  the  spirit  and  con 
stancy  which  were  displayed  by  the  Southern  people  in 
prosecuting  it.  By  no  people  under  the  sun  were  they 
excelled  in  bravery,  and  in  devotion  to  what  they  con 
sidered  their  rights ;  by  none  were  they  ever  equalled 
in  the  steadfast  cheerfulness  with  which  they  endured 
protracted  hardships  and  deprivations.  I  may  go 
further :  No  people  defeated  in  a  cause  which  they  had 
at  heart  ever  behaved  better  than  they  did  when  the 
war  was  over.  One  hardly  knows  which  most  to  admire, 
the  good  temper  with  which  the  most  of  them  accepted 
their  situation,  humiliating  as  it  was,  or  the  magnanim 
ity  of  the  Government  in  the  exercise  of  its  authority. 
Costly  as  the  war  was,  the  country,  and  the  whole  coun 
try,  was  immensely  the  gainer  by  it.  It  put  an  end  t< » 
slavery — the  apple  of  discord  between  the  sections.  It 
cemented  the  Union  with  the  blood  of  its  enemies  as 
well  as  with  that  of  its  friends.  It  ended  in  the  mut 
ual  respect  of  those  who  were  actively  engaged  in  it. 
There  was  no  exultation  on  the  part  of  the  victors,  no 
feeling  of  degradation  on  the  part  of  the  vanquished. 
The  bad  spirit  afterwards  engendered  was  the  work  of 
those  whose  faces  had  not  been  seen  upon  the  battle 
field.  Of  the  prominent  and  meritorious  Union  soldiers, 
I  call  to  mind  but  one  who  seemed  desirous  of  keeping 
alive  the  animosities  of  the  war. 

I  have  said  something  about  the  tariff,  because  it  is 


X  PREFACE. 

a  subject  that  has  always  been  interesting  to  me,  and 
because  it  involves  questions  of  the  highest  importance 
to  the  country.  The  United  States  is  far  in  the  lead  of 
all  nations  in  the  enterprises,  the  industry,  and  versatile 
intelligence  of  the  major  part  of  its  population ;  with 
coal  and  iron  in  close  proximity,  and  in  inexhaustible 
supply ;  with  the  finest  and  most  extensive  cotton-fields 
in  the  world  ;  with  fertile  lands  enough  for  the  homes 
of  hundreds  of  millions  of  people ;  with  manufactories 
of  almost  all  descriptions  well  established  and  skilfully 
managed ;  with  unequalled  commercial  facilities,  and 
with  abundant  capital  and  cheap  money.  Tlyit  such  a 
country  should  need  protection  in  its  home  markets 
against  the  competition  of  nations  thousands  of  miles 
distant  to  a  greater  extent  than  would  be  afforded  by  a'' 
revenue  tariff,  is  a  conclusion  that  I  have  been  unable  to 
reach,  strong  as  has  been,  and  is,  my  attachment  to 
the  party  of  whose  economical — perhaps  I  ought  to  say 
political  —  policy,  protection  is  the  corner  stone.  On 
the  contrary,  my  conclusion  has  been,  that  what  was 
needed  by  our  manufacturers  (to  say  nothing  about  our 
farmers,  whose  wants  are  becoming  painfully  pressing), 
and  will  become  more  and  more  needed  as  their  produc 
tive  power  increases — was,  wider  markets  for  their 
manufactured  goods ; — the  very  markets  of  which  they 
have,  to  a  large  extent,  been  deprived  by  the  measures 
that  have  been  thought  necessary  to  secure  for  them 
the  control  of  the  markets  at  home.  Inactive  as  most 
of  our  mills  are  (very  few  are  being  worked  up  to  their 


PREFACE.  xi 

full  capacity),  there  is  still  overproduction,  and  manu 
facturers  are  combining  to  limit  supplies  and  maintain 
high  prices  at  the  cost  of  consumers.  Combinations  for 
these  purposes  are  the  necessary  outgrowth  of  our  pro 
tective  tariff,  and  they  will  exist  until  import  duties 
are  levied  for  revenue  only,  and  as  largely  as  may  be 
practicable  upon  luxuries.  In  our  zeal  to  sustain  home 
industry  we  have  overlooked  the  importance  of  foreign 
markets,  which  cannot  be  open  to  us  as  long  as  we  sub 
ject  their  productions  to  very  high  duties.  Of  the 
immense  South  American  trade,  which  we  ought  to 
control,  and  should  now  control  if  wisdom  had  prevailed 
in  our  national  councils,  very  little  is  left  to  us  except 
that  with  Brazil,  and  that  would  be  carried  on  witli 
much  difficulty  if  the  European  demand  for  our 
cereals  and  cotton  should  be  seriously  reduced.  We 
buy  of  Brazil  chiefly  coffee,  to  the  amount  in  round 
numbers  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  and  sell  to  her 
chiefly  lumber  and  flour  to  the  amount  of  ten  millions. 
The  resulting  balance  we  pay  by  what  we  send  to 
Europe,  the  larger  part  of  which  goes  to  England, 
against  which  country  our  protective  tariff  is  mainly 
aimed.  Our  trade  with  China  and  Japan  is^ of  the  same 
one-sided  character,  and  we  continue  the  trade  with 
these  nations,  one-sided  as  it  is,  because  tea  and  coffee 
are  articles  which  we  must  have  and  cannot  produce. 
It  is  to  England,  which  takes  our  wheat  and  flour  and 
cotton  and  other  articles  free  from  duties,  that  we  are 
very  largely  indebted  for  the  means  to  pay  the  balances 


Xll  PREFACE. 

due  to  the  countries  I  have  named,  and  to  other  coun 
tries  in  our  unequal  trade  with  them.  England  buys  our 
breadstuff's  because  she  cannot  produce  what  she  needs, 
and  she  will  continue  to  buy  as  long  as  she  can  buy  of 
us  cheaper  than  she  can  buy  of  Russia,  and  no  longer. 
As  long  as  we  maintain  a  tariff  to  protect  our  own 
manufacturers,  we  can  have  no  reliable  interest  in  inter 
national  trade.  Those  who  expect  that  our  lost  South 
American  trade  can  be  recovered,  or  that  profitable 
trade  with  other  nations  can  be  established,  as  long  as 
we  maintain  a  tariff  which  is,  against  many  important 
articles,  substantially  prohibitory,  are  expecting  what 
will  never  be  realized.  The  British  manufacturers 
would  be  glad  if  they  could  have  free  trade  with  the 
United  States,  not  because  they  can  make  goods  at  less 
cost  than  they  can  be  made  by  United  States  manufac 
turers,  but  because  they  are  willing  to  work  at  less 
profit.  .  This  free  trade  they  know  they  cannot  have, 
because  they  know  that  the  United  States  Government 
is  to  be  mainly  supported,  as  it  always  has  been,  by 
import  duties.  They  would  be  quite  content  if  they 
were  sure  that  our  protective  laws  would  be  continued, 
so  that  they  would  never  have  to  meet  the  competition 
of  United  States  manufacturers  in  the  markets  which 
they  now  substantially  control. 

That  the  reduction  of  duties  to  the  revenue  standard 
would  affect  injuriously  mechanical  and  manufacturing 
labor  in  the  United  States,  is  not  believed  by  many 
who  have  carefully  and  disinterestedly  considered  the 


PREFACE.  xiii 

subject.  High  duties  are  prejudicial  to  tlie  laboring 
classes,  by  increasing  the  cost  of  goods  with  which  they 
must  be  supplied.  Wages  are  now  higher  in  the 
United  States  than  in  other  countries,  but  so  is  the 
expense  of  living.  Steady  employment  is  becoming  as 
uncertain  in  the  United  States  as  in  Europe,  and  strikes 
are  more  frequent  and  persistent  here  than  in  any  other 
country.  There  has  never  been  so  much  discontent 
among  manufacturing  laborers  in  the  United  States  as 
there  is  now,  when  Protection,  in  the  opinion  of  its 
friends,  is  doing  its  perfect  work ;  when  the  duties  on 
many  articles  are  equal  to  the  cost  of  the  labor  in 
producing  similar  articles  by  our  own  manufacturers. 
Wages  depend  upon  demand  and  supply,  and  they  will 
steadily  decline  in  the  United  States  in  consequence 
of  the  foreign  immigration.  Humane  considerations 
are  not  apt  to  influence  the  action  of  business  men. 
There  is  free  trade  in  labor,  and  our  manufacturers  will 
employ,  if  they  do  not  import,  cheap  laborers  from  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  until  wages  approach  pretty 
near  to  the  European  standard.  The  outlook  for  labor 
ers  in  the  manufacturing  districts  of  the  United  States, 
if  no  check  is  put  upon  immigration,  and  no  new 
markets  are  opened  for  our  manufactured  goods,  is  the 
reverse  of  encouraging.  With  due  respect  for  the 
opinions  of  protectionists,  I  cannot  see  how  the  country 
can  continue  to  be  highly  prosperous,  and  peace  and 
order  can  be  maintained  in  the  manufacturing  districts, 
without  the  admission,  free  from  duty,  of  the  raw 


XIV  PREFACE. 

materials  which  are  needed  by  our  manufacturers,  nor 
without  a  reduction  of  duties  upon  many  articles  which 
are  in  general  use.  The  real  danger  which  threatens  the 
country,  and  especially  the  manufacturing  interests,  is, 
not  a  reduction  of  duties  to  the  revenue  standard,  but  the 
necessity  which  may  exist  for  so  high  duties  for  revenue 
purposes  as  will  prevent  free  international  exchanges. 

The  suffrage  question  to  which  I  have  referred, 
engages  little  public  attention,  and  yet  it  is  a  question  of 
supreme  importance,  upon  the  disposition  of  which  the 
permanency  of  our  republican  institutions  may  depend. 
"  How  is  this,"  asked  an  intelligent  foreign  looker  on, 
just  before  our  last  presidential  election — "  how  is  this, 
that  I  see  frequent  reference  in  the  newspapers  to  the 
Irish  vote,  and  the  German  vote,  and  sometimes  to  the 
foreign  vote  ?  Do  foreigners  vote  in  your  presidential 
elections  ? "  "  Yes,  they  do,"  I  replied  ;  "  but  not  until 
they  have  been  naturalized."  My  regret  was  that  I 
could  not  say  that  naturalization  laws  would  doubt 
less  be  at  least  so  changed  that  none  but  native-born 
citizens  would  be  voters.  What  I  have  said  in  the  fol 
lowing  pages  upon  suffrage  expresses  but  faintly  the 
dangers  to  be  apprehended  if  immigration  continues, 
and  no  check  is  put  upon  the  exercise  of  the  highest  of 
all  privileges  by  those  who  have  no  stake  in  the  national 
welfare,  and  especially  by  those  whose  mission  it  seems 
to  be  to  wage  war  upon  all  governments,  the  freest  as 
well  as  the  most  despotic.  H.  McC. 

NOVEMBER,  1887. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Growth  of  England  and  the  United  States — Bill  for  Railroad  from  Bos 
ton  to  Salem — Jeremiah  Mason — Ichabod  Bartlett — Stage-coaching 
— Boston  in  1883 — Its  Commercial  Character — Massachusetts— Her 
High  Character — Change  in  Character  of  New  England  Population 
— Boston — Southern  Prejudices  against  New  England— Bishop 
Spaulding's  Anecdote 1 

CHAPTER   II. 

Changes  in  New  England  Theology — The  Westminster  Catechism — Dr. 
Channing's  Sermon  at  the  Ordination  of  Mr.  Sparks — Division  of  the 
Churches— The  Unitarians — The  Calvinists— Dr.  Beecher  tried  for 
Heresy — Thomas  Fessenden— His  Question  to  a  Dying  Christian — 
Plenary  Inspiration 10 

CHAPTER   III. 

Boston— Its  Lawyers — Daniel  Webster — His  Varied  Talents — His  Debate 
with  Hayne — Mr.  Calhoun — Sectional  Feeling — Race  between  a 
Northern  and  Southern  Horse — Mr.  Webster  before  a  Jury — Frank 
lin  Dexter — Benjamin  Curtis — W.  M.  Evarts — William  Groesbeck — 
Rufus  Ghoate — Richard  Fletcher — Mr.  Choate  and  Mr.  Clay— Mr. 
Burlingame  and  Mr.  Brooks — Theodore  Lyman— Harrison  Gray  Otis 
— Josiah  Quincy— Edward  Everett— Caleb  Gushing— Henry  W. 
Longfellow — Oliver  W.  Holmes — Interesting  Incident 10 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Boston  Clergy  :  Channing,  Gannett,  Parker,  Lowell,  Ware,  Pierpont, 
Palfrey,  Blagden,  Edward  Beecher,  Frothingham,  Emerson,  Ripley, 
Walker — Outside  of  Boston  :  Upham,  Whitman  and  Nichols,  Father 
Taylor,  the  Sailor  Preacher- James  Freeman  Clarke— Edward  Ever 
ett  Hale— M.  J.  Savage— Decline  of  Unitarianism— The  Catholic 
( 'hurch— Progress  of  Liberal  Thought— Position  of  the  Churches  in 
Regard  to  Slavery— The  Slave  Question 


XVI  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   V. 

Departure  from  New  England— William  Emerson — New  York — Phila 
delphia — Baltimore — Wheeling — The  Ohio  River — Thomas  F.  Mar 
shall — Emancipation  -Feeling  in  Favor  of  it  checked  by  the  Profits 
of  Slavery — John  Bright  and  the  Opium  Trade — Mr.  Adams — Mr. 
Adams's  Speech  upon  the  Right  of  Petition — Mr.  Marshall  in  Chicago 
— Cincinnati  in  1833 — Importance  of  Railroads  to  the  West — Alex 
ander  Ewing — Cincinnati  as  a  Manufacturing  City — Distribution  of 
her  Manufactures — Her  High  Character 3S 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Madison,  Indiana — Jeremiah  Sullivan — Algernon  S.  Sullivan — License  to 
practise  Law — Charles  Dewey — Isaac  Houck — Isaac  Blackford — Black- 
ford's  Reports — Prominent  Young  Men  in  Indiana  in  1836 — Joseph 
G.  Marshall —Caleb  B.  Smith — Richard  W.  Thompson — Henry  S. 
Lane — Edward  A.  Hannegan — Samuel  Parker — Horace  P.  Biddle — • 
George  G.  Dunn — William  McKee  Dunn — Lucy  Stone — Samuel  Judah 
— District-Attorney  Howard — George  H.  Promt — John  B.  Howe — 
John  B.  Niles — The  Harrison  Campaign — Condition  of  the  Country — 
Low  Prices,  and  the  Causes — Removal  of  the  Government  Deposits 
by  General  Jackson — President  Van  Buren — Creation  of  State  Banks 
— Sneers  at  General  Harrison — Log  Cabin  anil  Hard  Cider  Campaign 
— Singing  effective  in  Politics  and  Religion — Scenes  at  a  Church  in 
Cincinnati — Failure  of  Harrison's  Election  to  bring  Relief  to  the 
Country — Usual  Causes  of  Financial  Troubles  in  the  United  States — 
The  Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  United  States — The  Specie  Circular — 
Disastrous  Effects  of  the  Failure  of  the  Pennsylvania  United  States 
Bank — The  Pet  Banks — The  Banks  of  Michigan — Depression  in  Prices 
of  Leading  Articles 4(5 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Thomas  Corwin — His  Popular  Oratory — Reply  to  General  Crary  of  Michi 
gan — Speech  on  the  Mexican  War — Robert  C.  Schenck — First  Laurels 
Won  in  Debate  with  John  Brough — Appointed  Minister  to  Brazil — 
Resumes  the  Practice  of  the  Law — At  the  Outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
gives  up  a  Lucrative  Practice  and  becomes  a  Soldier — Elected  to 
Congress  while  in  the  Field — Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means — Appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Great  Britain — Per 
forms  his  Duties  with  Great  Ability — His  Connection  with  a  Mining 
Company— Complies  with  the  Request  of  a  Distinguished  Lady  to 
Describe  a  Game  of  Cards — Unjustly  Treated  by  the  Press  and  by  the 
Government. .  62 


CONTENTS.  xvii 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ride  to  Indianapolis— The  City  as  it  Then  Was— Its  First  Settlers— Nicho 
las  McCarty,  James  Blake,  Samuel  Merrill,  Harvey  Bates,  Calvin 
Fletcher,  James  M.  Ray,  John  Coburn,  Dr.  Coe— Some  of  the  promi 
nent  Men  of  the  State— Oliver  P.  Morton— Thomas  A.  Hendricks— 
Daniel  W.  Voorhees — The  Methodists — Armstrong,  Bascom,  Durbin, 
Simpson 70 

CHAPTER   IX. 

By  the  Advice  of  General  Howard,  I  go  Northward — Eagle  Village — First 
Night  in  a  Cabin— Its  Occupants— Ten-Mile  Ride  to  Breakfast— The 
Village  of  Frankfort — Military  Company  in  Training — Delphi — The 
Wabash — Adventure  with  a  Rattlesnake — Logansport — Lewis  Cass — 
John  Tipton — South  Bend — Charles  Crocker— Samuel  C.  Sample — 
Rolling  Prairie — Laporte — First  Sitting  there  of  the  Circuit  Court— 
The  Court-room — Resolve  to  go  to  Fort  Wayne — Goshen — J.  L.  Jer- 
negan — Fort  Wayne,  its  Situation  and  Appearance — Rapid  Growth 
of  the  Country 78 

CHAPTER  X. 

Situation  of  Foil  Wayne — French  Catholic  Priests — Anthony  Wayne — 
Little  Turtle — First  Temperance  Society  in  the  United  States — The 
Indians — Indian  Agents — Passing  Away  of  the  Tribes— Samuel  Hanna 
— Allan  Hamilton — William  G.  and  George  W.  Ewing — Charles  W. 
Ewing — Samuel  Lewis — Lewis  G.  Thompson— Jesse  L.  Williams- 
Robert  Breckenridge — Marshal  S.  Wines — John  Spencer — Francis 
Comparet — John  B.  Bourie — John  B.  Richardville 98 

CHAPTER  XI. 

My  First  Illness  Cheered  by  a  Catholic  Priest — The  State  Bank  of  Indiana 
—Appointed  Cashier  and  Manager  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Branch — Excel 
lent  and  Liberal  Charter  of  the  Bank — General  Management — Bene 
fits  to  the  State— Capital  Paid  up  in  Spanish  and  Mexican  Dollars 
— Its  Managers — Samuel  Merrill,  President,  and  James  M.  Ray, 
Cashier,  and  Prominent  Directors — J.  F.  D.  Lanier Ill 

CHAPTER   XII. 

Demand  for  more  Banking  Capital — Free  Hanking  Authorized — Manner 
in  which  it  was  Conducted— Its  Failure— Bill  Chartering  the  Bank 
of  the  State  of  Indiana  Passed  over  the  Governor's  Veto— Manner  in 
which  its  Stock  was  Subscribed  for— The  Control  Passes  into  Hands 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of  Managers  of  the  Old  Bank — I  Become  its  President — Commence 
ment  of  Business,  January,  1857 — Failure  of  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust 
Company  of  Cincinnati — General  Suspension  of  the  Banks — The  Bank 
of  the  State  of  Indiana  Maintains  its  Integrity  and  Saves  its  Charter 
— Authorized  by  Opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  Redeem  its  Notes 
in  Legal  Tenders — Good  Behavior  of  the  Banks  of  New  Orleans.  . . .  124 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher — He  becomes  the  Pastor  of  a  New-School  Presbyte 
rian  Church  at  Indianapolis — The  Character  of  his  Sermons — Manner 
of  Preparing  them — Touching  Address  at  Fort  Wayne — His  Power  as 
a  Speaker — His  Speeches  at  Liverpool  and  London — At  the  Height  of 
his  Career  in  1863 — His  Influence  as  a  Preacher,  and  his  Personal 
Character — His  Encounter  with  a  Constable  at  Indianapolis— His 
Employment  Outside  of  the  Pulpit — Not  a  Partisan— Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher — His  Ride  to  Fort  Wayne — His  Pleasant  Manners 140 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Election  a  Pretext  for  Secession — South  Carolina  and 
Nullification — Mr.  Buchanan's  Conservatism — Slavery — Northern  and 
Southern  Views  of  the  Constitution — Expectation  of  Secessionists  in 
Regard  to  Action  of  Border  States — Opposition  to  Coercion  in  Some 
of  the  Free  States — Dark  Days  between  November,  1860,  and  April, 
1861 — Slavery  the  Question  which  Statesmen  were  Unable  to  Handle 
— Defeat  at  Bull  Run  Unexpected — Demoralization  at  Washington 
after  the  Battle — Subsequent  Defeats  Created  no  Dismay — Platform 
upon  which  McClellan  was  Nominated  for  the  Presidency — Mr.  Lin 
coln's  Remarks  Upon  it 151 

CHAPTER  XV. 

My  opposition  to  the  National  Banking  System  in  1863 — Justin  S.  Morrill 
— Visit  to  the  Eastern  States — Am  requested  by  Secretary  Chase  to 
become  Comptroller  of  the  Currency — My  Connection  with  the  Bank 
of  the  State  of  Indiana  Dissolved — George  W.  Rathbone  my  Successor 
— Samuel  T.  Howard,  Deputy  Comptroller — Rules  in  Regard  to 
Appointments — John  Burroughs — Organization  of  the  National  Banks 
— Unwillingness  of  the  State  Banks  to  become  National  Banks,  and 
the  Reason  therefor — Especial  Objection  to  their  being  Known  by 
Numerals — My  Successors  as  Comptroller  of  the  Currency — Mr.  Chase's 
Opinion  of  the  Legal  Tender  Acts — First  Case  in  regard  to  their  Con 
stitutionality — Appointments  of  Justices  Strong  and  Bradley — Ex 
tracts  from  Judge  Strong's  Opinion  in  the  Second  Legal  Tender  Case 
— Decision  in  the  First  Legal  Tender  Case  Overruled  by  the  Second — 
The  Third  Legal  Tender  Case— Free  Comments  103 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Salmon  P.  Chase — Entitled  to  the  Gratitude  of  his  Countrymen  for  Ser 
vices  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury— Condition  of  the  Treasury  when 
he  Entered  It— His  Two  Mistakes— His  Ambition  to  be  Chief  Justice 
— Not  Satisfied  after  his  Ambition  had  been  Gratified — Abraham  Lin 
coln — His  Educational  Advantages — His  Knowledge  of  Men  and  his 
Far-seeing  Wisdom — William  P.  Fessenden— His  Administration  of 
the  Treasury — His  Statesmanship— Am  Appointed  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury— Thurlow  Weed's  Agency  in  the  Appointment— Extracts 
From  my  Advice  to  National  Banks  When  Comptroller  of  the  Cur 
rency — Extracts  from  my  Speech  at  Fort  Wayne  in  October,  1865 — 
My  Opinions  of  the  National  Debt 181 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  House  on  the  18th  of  December,  1865,  by  Vote  of  144  to  6,  Approved 
my  Recommendation  for  the  Withdrawal  of  the  Legal-tender  Note — 
In  April  following  an  Act  was  Passed  Authorizing  the  Withdrawal 
and  Cancellation  of  Ten  Millions  of  Legal  Tenders  in  Six  Months,  and 
Four  Millions  per  Month  Thereafter — Under  this  Act  Forty-eight  Mill 
ions  of  Legal-tender  Notes  Cancelled — Market  not  Affected  by  the 
Reduction — Increase  of  Issue  in  Panic  of  1873 — Francis  E.  Spinner, 
Treasurer — His  Character — Panics  and  their  Cause — Speculation  in 
the  Timbered  Lands  of  Maine — Financial  Crisis  of  1857 — Charles 
Francis  Adams's  Letter  to  Sidney  Brooks  in  Regard  to  President 
Johnson's  Message  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury's  Report — Mr. 
Gladstone's  Remarks — President  Johnson's  First  Message 210 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln — Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  Morning  of  the  Assas 
sination — Attemped  Assassination  of  Mr.  Seward — Execution  of  some 
of  the  Assassins  and  of  Mrs.  Surratt — Indications  of  a  Panic  in  Wall 
Street — The  Iron-clad  Oath — President's  Message  transmitting  Letter 
of  Secretary  of  Treasury,  asking  Modification  thereof — Senators  Sher 
man  and  Summer's  Remarks  thereon — Sumner's  Character  and  Appear-      / 
ance— Captured  and  Abandoned  Property — Difficulty  in  ^Executing  V 
the  Law — Wm.  E.  Chandler  Assistant  Secretary — His  valuable  Ser 
vices — John     Hartley — Revenue    Commissioners    David    A.    Wells, 
Stephen  Colwell,  S.  S.  Hayes — Mr.  Wells  Sole  Commissioner 232 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Condition  of  the  Treasury  in  April,  1865— Detailed  Statement  thereof — 
Absolute  Needs  of  the  Government— Offering  of  the  Seven  and  Three- 
tenths  Notes — Action  of  the  Press — I^arge  Subscriptions  by  some  of 


XX  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

the  Banks  —  Apprehended  Danger  therefrom—  Thorough  Examination 
of  the  Loan  Books—  Result  of  that  Examination—  Officers  and  Clerks 

—  The  Currency  Question—  Review  of  the  General  Policy  of  the  Treas 
ury  Department  for  Four  Years  .................................  243 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Scientific  Club—  Dr.  P.  A.  P.  Barnard  —  University  of  Mississippi  — 
Prosperous  until  Outbreak  of  War  —  Dr.  Barnard  Leaves  Mississippi 
and  Comes  to  Washington—  Professor  Henry  —  His  High  Character 
and  Large  Acquirements  —  His  Unselfishness  —  Professor  Bache.  great- 
grandson  of  Benjamin  Franklin  —  Dr.  Peter  Parker  —  His  Eminence  as 
a  Surgeon  —  His  Diplomatic  Relations  to  the  United  States  —  Simon 
Newcomb  —  High  Reputation  as  an  Astronomer  —  Also  as  a  Writer  on 
Political  Economy  —  J.  E.  Hilgard  —  His  Varied  Services  —  George  C. 
Schaeffer—  A.  A.  Humphreys,  Distinguished  as  a  General  and  Engi 
neer  —  Jonathan  H.  Lane  —  His  Hobby  —  William  B.  Taylor  —  His  valu 
able  Work  in  the  Smithsonian  —  Titian  H.  Peale  —  Benjamin  N.  Craig 

—  J.  M.  Gillis—  J.  N.  McComb—  0.  M.  Poe—  M.  C.  Meigs—  His  Great 
Services  as  Quartermaster-General  —  General  George  H.  Thomas,  the 
"  Rock  of  Chickamauga  "  —  General  John  A.  Logan  —  General   P.  H. 
Sheridan  —  General  William  T.  Sherman  —  Brief  Sketch  of  his  Cam 
paigns  .............................    ...........................  258 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

General  W.  S.  Hancock  —  His  Modesty  and  High  Sense  of  Honor  —  His 
Nomination  for  the  Presidency  —  What  he  Said  about  the  Tariff  — 
Habits  Formed  by  a  Soldier  Unfitted  for  the  Presidency  —  General 
George  B.  McClellan  —  His  Appointment  to  the  Command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  —  How  it  was  Received  in  Indiana  and  through 
out  the  Country  —  Condition  of  the  Army  when  he  Took  the  Command  — 
Its  Re-creation  —  His  Scheme  for  the  Prosecution  of  the  War  —  His 
Inaction  and  its  Effect  upon  his  Reputation  —  Appointment  by  Con 
gress  of  a  Joint  Committee  to  Inquire  into  the  Conduct  of  the  War  — 
Peninsular  Campaign  Commenced  under  Unfavorable  Circumstances 
—  Its  Failure,  although  Great  Skill  was  Manifested  in  its  Conduct  — 
General  McClellan  not  Properly  Sustained  in  Washington  —  The  Com 
mand  of  the  Army  Transferred  to  General  Pope  —  The  Second  Battle 
of  Bull  Run  —  McClellan  Takes  Again,  at  the  Request  of  the  Presi 
dent,  the  Command  of  the  Army  —  Its  Discipline  rapidly  Restored  — 
Battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antietam  —  General  McClellan 
Relieved  of  his  Command  and  Ordered  to  Trenton  —  The  Hold  he  Had 
upon  his  Army  —  His  Private  Character  ............................  298 


CONTENTS.  XXI 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

General  Grant  in  the  Spring  of  1861 — War  not  Expected  until  the  Attack 
upon  Sumter — Grant  Appointed  Colonel — a  Brigadier  by  Brevet — 
Battle  of  Belmont — Appointed  to  the  Command  of  the  District  of 
Cairo — Capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson — Appointed  Major- 
General  of  Volunteers— General  C.  F.  Smith— Battle  of  Shiloh— 
Union  Army  Saved  by  Arrival  of  General  Buell  with  Reinforcements 
— Capture  of  Vicksburg — It  places  General  Grant  at  the  Head  of  the 
Union  Generals— The  Man  of  Destiny — Battle  of  Chickamauga — Gen 
eral  William  S.  Rosecrans — His  Merits  as  a  Soldier — Battles  of  Look 
out  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge — General  Grant  made  Lieu 
tenant-General — Condition  of  the  Union  Army  in  1864 — Battles  of  the 
Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  North  Anna,  and  Cold  Harbor— Heavy 
Losses  Sustained  by  the  Union  Army — Difference  in  the  Condition  of 
the  Union  and  Confederate  States— The  Siege  and  Capture  of  Rich 
mond — General  Grant's  Character  and  Capabilities  as  a  Soldier 31d 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Condition  of  the  two  great  Parties  in  1868— Horatio  Seymour  Nominated 
for  the  Presidency,  and  General  Frank  P.  Blair  for  the  Vice-Presi 
dency,  by  the  Democrats — General  Grant  and  Schuyler  C'olfax  Nom 
inated  by  the  Republicans,  and  Elected — General  Grant  Nominated 
on  account  of  his  Military  Reputation— His  Nominations  for  the 
Heads  of  Departments— Elihu  B.  Washburne— George  S.  Boutwell— 
Jacob  D.  Cox— John  A.  J.  Creswell— E.  Rockwood  Hoar— Alexander 
T.  Stewart— Adolpli  E.  Borie— Hamilton  Fish— George  M.  Kobeson— 
William  W.  Belknap— Morrison  R..  Waite— Negotiation  for  the 
Annexation  of  St.  Domingo— Mr.  Sumner's  Opposition  to  it— Mr. 
Motley  Recalled  from  the  Court  of  St.  James— Change  in  the  Office 
of  Attorney  General — General  Grant  as  a  Civilian — Manner  in  which 
he  Used  his  Authority— Appointment  of  his  Son  to  be  a  Lieutenant. 
Colonel,  and  a  Distinguished  Clergyman  to  be  Examiner  of  Consular 
Offices— His  Retirement  from  the  Presidency— Desire  of  a  Nomina 
tion  for  a  Third  Term— He  Visits  Europe— Is  everywhere  Received 
with  Great  Respect— Efforts  to  Nominate  him  for  a  Third  Term  on 
his  Return  from  Europe— His  Unfortunate  Connection  with  a  Bank 
ing  Firm— His  Fatal  Illness  and  Death -344 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Navy— The  Blockade  the  Severest  Blow  given  to  the  South— Gal 
lantry  on  Both  Sides— Services  of  the  Navy  not  Confined  to  the  Block 
ade—Battle  between  the  "Monitor"  and  the  "Virginia"  the  most 
Important  Single  Event  of  the  War— Passage  of  the  Union  Ships 


XX11  CONTENTS. 


by  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip — Capture  of  New  Orleans — Battle  in 
Mobile  Bay — Gallantry  of  Farragut— Letter  of  Captain  Theodorus  Bai 
ley — The  Effect  of  the  War  upon  our  Merchant  Marine 362 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Johnson — His  Devotion  to  the  Union — His  Early  History — His 
Limited  Advantages — His  Self-Reliance  and  Energy — The  Position 
which  he  Took  at  the  Close  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration — 
While  Military  Governor  of  Tennessee,  he  Visits  Ohio  and  Indiana — 
His  Unfortunate  Appearance  when  he  took  the  Oath  as  Vice-Presi- 
dent — Mr.  Lincoln's  Remarks  About  it — He  Takes  the  Oath  of  Office 
as  President — He  Desires  the  Members  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  to 
Retain  their  Positions — His  Reconstruction  Policy — His  View  of  the 
Suffrage  Question— His  Veto  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill — Extracts  from 
his  First  Message  to  Congress — Views  Expressed  by  Mr.  Lincoln — 
His  First  Message  Approved  by  all  the  Members  of  the  Cabinet — 
Management  of  the  Different  Departments  Left  to  their  respective 
Heads — Our  Relations  with  Mexico  under  French  Domination — Refer 
ence  to  them  in  the  President's  Message — Action  of  Mr.  Seward,  Sec 
retary  of  State— His  Wisdom 369 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Harmony  between  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  until  the  Spring  of  1866 
— Differences  between  them  after  Veto  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill — Mr. 
Dennison,  Mr.  Harlan  and  Mr.  Speed  Resign — Mr.  Stanton  Holds  on 
to  his  Place  against  the  Wishes  of  the  President — The  President  Fails 
to  Remove  him  before  the  Passage  of  the  Act,  and  then  Suspends 
him — The  President's  indefensible  Extempore  Speeches — Impeach 
ment  of  the  President — First  Instance  in  the  History  of  Nations  of 
such  a  Trial— Manner  in  which  it  was  Conducted — The  Prosecutors 
— The  President's  Counsel — The  Trial  a  Political  One — Course  Pur 
sued  by  General  Grant — Speech  of  Mr.  Fessenden — The  President 
Acquitted — How  the  Vote  Stood — Mr.  Stanton  Resigns — Disadvan 
tages  under  which  the  President  Labored — His  Messages  and  his 
Vetoes — Henry  Stanbery — William  M.  Evarts — Injustice  to  President 
Johnson  Continued  after  his  Death — Jefferson  Davis — I  Visit  him  at 
Fortress  Monroe — The  Manner  in  which  he  was  Treated — His  Appear 
ance — Never  Brought  to  Trial — Mr.  Johnson  Elected  United  States 
Senator  in  1875 — His  Death  after  Serving  a  Single  Term 390 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Presidential  Election  of  1876 — Rutherford  B.  Hayes  and  William  A. 
Wheeler  Nominated  by  the  Republicans  — Samuel  J.  Tilden  and 


CONTENTS.  Xxiii 

PAGE 

Thomas  A.  Rend  ricks  by  the  Democrats — Brief  Sketch  of  the  Nomi 
nees — The  Canvass  a  Vigorous  One — First  Reports  favorable  to  the 
Democrats -The  Result  Uncertain — Great  Anxiety  and  Apprehension 
throughout  the  Country — The  Commission  Appointed  to  Determine 
the  Result — Hayes  and  Wheeler  Declared  to  be  Elected — Remarks 
of  the  President  of  the  Union  Telegraph  Company — My  Own  Opinion 
of  the  Election — Hayes's  Administration  a  creditable  one 413 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

First  Impressions  of  England — The  "Scotia" — Captain  Judkins— The 
Cunard  Steamship  Company — The  White  Star  Steamers — Opinions 
in  regard  to  their  Model — Steamships  and  Sailing  Vessels — Changes 
in  Commerce  by  Steamships — The  "  Britannia  " — The  "  Enterprise  " 
— The  "  Sirius  " — Barges  and  Flatboats  Superseded  by  Steamboats 
on  Western  Rivers — Iron  Supersedes  Wood  in  the  Construction  of 
Ships — The  Battle  between  the  "  Monitor''  and  the  "  Virginia  "  ren 
ders  Valueless  the  Navies  of  the  World — Liverpool  and  her  Docks- 
All  Nations  there  Represented  except  the  United  States — Ride  from 
Liverpool  to  London — Appearance  of  the  Country — English  Farming 
— Climate  Favorable  to  Agriculture 423 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

English  Society — Introductions — Exchange  of  Cards— Primogeniture 
Unfavorable  to  Chivalry— Difference  in  the  Manners  of  Society 
Grades — Aristocratic  Exclusiveness — The  Landed  Gentry — Effect  of 
Leaseholds  upon  Building— London  a  Well-Governed  City — Observ 
ance  of  Sunday— Paupers'  Exchange— Condition  of  Workingmen— 
Conversation  with  a  Policeman — Economy  of  the  English— Station 
more  Honored  than  Wealth— House  of  Lords— Esteem  in  which  Noble 
men  are  Held— The  Throne— Queen  Victoria— Her  Family— The 
Prince  of  Wales — The  Empress  of  Germany 433 

CHAPTER   XXX. 

Difference  between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  that  of 
Great  Britain — Powers  and  Duties  of  the  Crown— Appointing  Power 
—House  of  Commons— Parliament  more  Democratic  than  Congress 
—Elections  in  Great  Britain— The  British  Constitution— Speakers  of 
the  House  of  Commons  and  the  House  of  Representatives— Henry 
Clay— Robert  C.  Win throp— James  G.  Elaine— John  G.  Carlisle— 
N.  P.  Banks— James  L.  Orr— Schuyler  Colfax— Samuel  J.  Randall— 
England  as  a  Maritime  Power— Ireland  and  the  Irish— Character  and 
Habits  of  the  Upper  Classes— The  Scotch— A  Protracted  Dinner- 
Taxes  not  Burdensome 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

The  English  People  and  the  People  of  the  United  States — Mutual  Learn 
ers — Tariffs  of  the  United  States — General  Jackson's  Proclamation — 
What  a  Federalist  Thought  of  it — Need  of  a  Commission  like  the 
Royal  Commission  to  Investigate  the  Subject  of  Taxation — Liquor 
Drinking  in  England —English  Deficient  in  Invention — Defective 
Patent  Laws — Excellent  Effect  of  United  States  Patent  Laws — Local 
Government  Needed  in  Great  Britain — The  British  Debt — Mr.  Glad 
stone  and  Mr.  Bright 464 

CHAPTER   XXXII. 

Second  Appointment  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — Treasury  Officers  and 
Clerks — President  Arthur  more  Fortunate  than  any  of  his  Prede 
cessors  who  Succeeded  to  the  Presidency — Mr.  Tyler — Mr.  Fillmore 
— Mr.  Johnson — Mr.  Arthur's  Successful  Administration — His 
Ability  and  Tact — His  Cabinet — William  E.  Chandler — Robert  Lin 
coln — President  Cleveland — Manner  in  which  he  has  Filled  a  Very 
Difficult  Position — His  Ability  and  Independence  481 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

The  Changes  of  a  Half  Century — Effect  of  Machinery  upon  Labor — Con 
tests  between  Capital  and  Labor — Demoralization  Produced  by  War 
— Increase  of  Violence — Decline  in  the  Standard  of  Honor — News 
papers  in  the  United  States  a  Half  Century  Ago — The  "  Galaxy " 
of  Boston — The  "Evening  Post"  and  "Courier  and  Enquirer"  of 
New  York — The  "Intelligencer"  of  Washington — The  "  Gazette  "  of 
Cincinnati — The  "Journal"'  of  Louisville — The  "Herald"  and 
"Tribune"  of  New  York — J.  T.  Buckingham — William  C.  Bryant — 
James  Watson  Webb — Joseph  Gales — Charles  Hammond — George  D. 
Prentice — James  G.  Bennett — Horace  Greeley — Personality  and 
Impersonality  in  Journalism — Increase  of  Federal,  and  Decrease  of 
State  Authority — Daniel  Webster's  Opinion  upon  the  Legal-Tender 
Question— Decision  of  the  Supreme  Court— Henry  Clay  and  the 
Tariff 488 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Public  Questions  still  Pending — The  Decline  of  Shipping  and  its  Causes — 
The  Tariff — Needed  to  Protect  Infant  Manufactures— Its  Increase 
for  War  Purposes — Its  Effect  upon  American  Shipping — The  Negro 
Question— Relations  of  the  Two  Races  to  Each  Other— The  Elective 
Franchise— Hostility  Between  the  Poor  and  Rich— Danger  of  our 
Large  Cities— Conversation  Between  a  Citizen  of  New  York  and  a 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

PAQK 

Citizen  of  Georgia — Ownership  of  Land — Made  Valuable  by  Labor — 
Hardships  of  Early  Settlers  in  Western  Timbered  Lands — Few  Farms 
Worth  more  than  the  Cost  of  Cultivation — Taxes  on  Lands  Should 
be  Reduced— Acquisition  and  Ownership  of  all  Property  to  be  Pro 
tected  by  the  Government — Wonderful  Growth  of  the  Country — Immi 
gration — Its  Value  and  Possible  Offsets — Differences  in  the  Character 
of  the  Immigrants — Naturalization  Laws  Dangerously  Liberal — 
Necessity  of  Restrictions  of  Voting  in  City  Elections — Monopolies 
—The  Outlook.  .  .  501 


MEN   AND   MEASURES 


HALF  A  CENTURY. 


CHAPTER   1. 

Growth  of  England  and  the  United  States — Bill  for  Railroad  from  Boston  to 
Salem — Jeremiah  Mason — Ichabod  Bartlett — Stage-coaching — Boston  in 
1833 — Its  Commercial  Character — Massachusetts — Her  High  Character — 
Change  in  Character  of  New  England  Population — Boston — Southern 
Prejudices  against  New  England —Bishop  Spaulding's  Anecdote. 

LORD  DERBY,  in  a  speech  delivered  at  Liverpool  in  1872, 
made  the  striking  remark  that  the  increase  of  wealth  in 
Great  Britain  within  the  present  century  far  exceeded  the 
increase  in  the  preceding  1800  years.  This  wealth  had  been 
chiefly  created  by  her  extensive  commerce  and  her  manufac 
tures,  in  which  for  many  years  she  excelled  all  other  nations — 
perhaps  all  other  nations  combined.  The  gain  in  the  United 
States  has  been  the  result  of  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
industry,  and  of  the  increased  value  of  land ;  and  this  increase 
in  the  value  of  land  is  in  a  very  great  degree  attributable  to 
canals  and  railroads,  chiefly  the  latter,  without  which  the  most 
of  the  great  West  would  have  remained  a  wilderness,  and  our 
large  cities  would  have  been  unimportant  towns.  It  is  hardly 
too  much  to  say,  that  the  United  States  are  twenty  times  richer 
than  they  were  a  half  century  ago.  The  whole  world  has, 
indeed,  felt  the  influences  that  have  been  at  work  within  this 


2       MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

brief  period  of  its  history  in  pushing  onward  modern  civiliza 
tion.  A  large  part  of  it  has,  in  fact,  been  rejuvenated  within 
a  half  century.  Nearly  all  of  the  mechanical  inventions,  now 
so  indispensable,  such  as  railroads,  iron  ships,  telegraphs,  agri 
cultural  implements,  labor-saving  machinery  of  all  kinds,  have 
come  into  use  within  less  than  two  generations,  but  in  no  part 
of  the  world  have  such  changes  taken  place  as  in  the  United 
States. 

In  April,  1833,  I  left  my  New  England  home  to  make  my 
start  in  life  in  the  West.  Fifty-four  years  are  a  long  time  to 
look  forward  to,  but  a  short  time  to  look  back  upon.  Crowded 
as  these  years  have  been,  in  the  United  States,  with  events  of 
surpassing  interest  and  importance,  they  seem  too  wonderful  to 
have  been  real.  What  advances  have  they  recorded  in  the 
extent  of  our  cultivated  lands,  in  manufactures,  in  mining,' in 
facilities  of  social  and  commercial  intercourse !  What  changes 
have  they  witnessed  in  our  domestic  institutions,  in  the  char 
acter  and  in  the  political  and  religious  sentiment  of  the  people ! 

A  reference  to  events  that  have  left  a  lasting  impression 
upon  my  mind,  and  to  a  few  of  the  persons  whom  I  have 
known  in  the  course  of  a  long  life,  and  to  others  whom  I  did 
not  know  personally,  but  who  were  conspicuous  in  my  early 
days,  with  free  comment?  on  the  changed  and  changing  con 
dition  of  the  country,  and  with  equally  free  expression  of  my 
opinions  upon  various  subjects,  may  be  interesting  to  my  fam 
ily  and  friends,  if  not  to  others.  Within  the  period  named 
the  population  of  the  United  States  has  been  more  than  twice 
doubled.  Sixteen  States  have  been  added  to  the  Union,  and 
what  was  then  the  far  distant  West  has  become  the  centre  of 
population  and  political  power;  but  in  no  section  have  the 
changes  referred  to  been  more  varied  and  interesting  than  in 
New  England,  and  especially  in  Boston ;  although  the  New 
England  States  are  among  the  oldest  of  the  States,  and  Boston 
is  one  of  the  oldest  of  our  cities. 

In  1833  there  was,  if  I  rightly  recollect,  but  one  railroad 


FIRST    RAILROADS   IN   NEW    ENGLAND.  3 

in  all  the  New  England  States — the  road  between  Boston  and 
Providence.  In  1832  I  listened  to  an  argument  made  before  a 
House  Committee  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  by  Jere 
miah  Mason  in  favor  of  a  bill  for  the  incorporation  of  a  com 
pany  to  construct  a  railroad  from  Boston  to  Salem.  The  bill 
was  violently  opposed  by  a  turnpike  company  on  the  ground 
that  its  passage  would  be  an  infringement  of  the  chartered  right 
of  the  company  to  control  the  traffic  between  the  two  cities. 
The  charter  of  this  company  was  one  of  the  old  colonial  char 
ters,  which  conferred  exclusive  and  perpetual  privileges.  It 
created  a  monopoly  of  the  strictest  character,  to  which  the  pas 
sage  of  this  bill  would  be  a  death-blow.  The  opponents  of  the 
bill  were  not  only  those  who  were  interested  as  stockholders  in 
the  turnpike  company,  but  such  conservatives  as  dreaded  any 
thing;  which  looked  like  an  invasion  of  vested  rights,  no  matter 

O  O  ' 

what  the  character  of  those  rights  might  be.  Its  advocates 
were  men  who  thought  that  no  monopoly  should  be  permitted 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  progress ;  that  private  interests  should 
be  subordinated  to  the  public  welfare.  The  bill  presented  a 
question  of  far-reaching  importance,  not  only  to  the  people  of 
Massachusetts,  but  to  the  people  of  all  the  States  in  which 
chartered  monopolies  existed.  Mr.  Mason,  then  in  the  merid 
ian  of  life,  and  without  a  peer  in  his  profession,  was  employed 
to  appear  before  the  committee  to  which  the  bill  had  been 
referred  and  advocate  a  favorable  report.  I  went  to  hear  him, 
the  great  New  England  lawyer,  from  curiosity  only.  The  sub 
ject  was  a  dry  one,  and  I  did  not  expect  to  be  interested  in  his 
argument,  but  he  had  not  spoken  five  minutes  before  my  atten 
tion  was  absorbed,  and  although  he  spoke  for  nearly  two  hours 
I  was  sorry  when  he  closed.  His  argument  was  conclusive. 
The  impression  which  it  made  upon  my  mind  has  never  been 
lost.  It  was  the  first  time  that  I  had  heard  a  purely  logical 
speech.  It  was  not  eloquence,  but  concise,  clear,  cogent  argu 
ment.  It  was  profound,  yet  so  clear  that  anybody  could  follow 
and  understand  it.  The  committee  reported  favorably  upon 


4       MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  bill,  and  it  was  soon  after  passed  by  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature.  I  never  saw  Mr.  Mason  after  that  time,  but  I 
never  shall  forget  how  he  looked  and  spoke.  He  was  full  six 
feet  and  a  half  in  height,  and  upwards  of  three  hundred  pounds 
in  weight.  His  head,  which,  while  he  was  speaking,  was 
always  slightly  inclined  towards  his  right  shoulder,  was  well 
formed,  and  although  very  large,  it  seemed  to  be  small  in  com 
parison  with  his  tall  and  massive  body.  His  dress  was  care 
less,  if  not  slovenly,  and  there  was  a  wide  show  of  linen  be 
tween  bis  trousers  and  his  waistcoat.  He  spoke  deliberately. 
His  enunciation  and  his  command  of  language  were  perfect. 
He  was  not  an  orator,  and  was  doubtless  inferior  to  many  of 
the  lawyers  of  the  day  as  an  advocate  before  a  jury  ;  but  in 
legal  knowledge,  and  in  clear  and  cogent  logic  he  had  no  equal, 
not  even  in  Mr.  Webster. 

Ichabod  Bartlett,  a  contemporary  of  Mr.  Mason,  was  one 
of  the  leading  lawyers  of  New  Hampshire.  Inferior  to  Mr. 
Mason  in  legal  knowledge,  he  was  more  than  Mason's  match 
in  jury  trials.  In  the  trial  of  a  case  of  some  importance,  in 
which,  as  usual,  they  were  on  opposite  sides,  Mr.  Bartlett,  who 
was  a  very  small  man,  in  his  address  to  the  jury  made  some 
remarks  which  irritated  Mr.  Mason,  who,  rising  to  his  full 
height,  said,  "  May  it  please  the  Court,  Brother  Bartlett  is  trav 
elling  out  of  the  record,  and  if  your  Honor  does  not  restrain 
him,  I  shall  have  to  pick  him  up  and  put  him  in  my  pocket." 
"  And  if  he  does,"  replied  Bartlett,  "  he  will  have  more  law  in 
his  pocket  than  he  ever  had  in  his  head."  The  laugh  was  at 
the  expense  of  Mr.  Mason. 

I  have  said  that  in  1833  there  was  but  one  railroad  in  New 
England.  A  daily  mail  and  an  accommodation  coach  were  suf 
ficient  for  the  travel  between  Portland  and  Boston,  the  great 
New  England  thoroughfare.  The  trip  was  made  by  the  mail- 
coach  in  one  day,  by  the  accommodation  in  two,  and  it  was 
seldom  that  either  coach  was  filled.  The  mail-coach  was  occu 
pied  only  by  the  very  few,  with  whom  time  was  more  impor- 


STAGE-COACHING.  5 

tant  than  money,  and  bad  as  the  roads  were  in  certain  seasons 
of  the  year,  it  was  generally  on  time.  It  seemed  to  be  under 
stood  that,  in  the  transportation  of  the  mails,  everybody  was 
interested,  and  that  the  services  of  all  could  be  called  upon  to 
clear  the  way.  My  home  was  in  Kennebunk.  and  I  recollect 
how  men  and  boys,  with  ox-teams  and  shovels,  were  called 
upon  frequently  every  winter  after  heavy  snow-storms  to 
break  the  roads  for  the  mail-stage.  Now,  there  is  not  a  count\r 
in  New  England  that  is  not  penetrated,  scarcely  a  village  that 
cannot  be  reached,  by  railroads.  The  change  in  other  respects 
is  not  less  striking.  Fifty-four  years  ago,  capitalists  were  just 
beginning  to  make  investments  in  manufactures,  in  which 
Dover,  New  Hampshire,  was  in  the  lead.  Then  the  seaboard 
towns  were  the  seats  of  commerce  and  trade ;  while  the  people 
of  the  interior  found  their  chief  employment  in  farming. 
There  were  then  more  men  employed  in  ship-building  and  mari 
time  enterprises  than  in  all  other  kinds  of  work,  except  agricul 
ture.  Now,  New  England  is  alive  with  manufacturing  industry, 
and  is  swarming  with  people  who  are  engaged  in  mechanical 
pursuits.  Boston  was  then  a  commercial  and  maritime  city,  in 
which  respect  it  was  second  only  to  New  York.  Since  then, 
its  enormous  increase  in  wealth  has  been  the  result  of  invest 
ments  in  manufactures  and  railroads.  It  is  no  longer  the  city 
I  knew  so  well  in  my  early  life.  There  is  nothing  to  remind 
me  of  Boston  as  it  then  wTas,  except  the  State  House,  Faneuil 
Hall,  Beacon  Hill,  and  Court  and  State  streets.  All  else  has 
greatly  changed.  The  Common  and  the  Mall,  which  I  thought 
the  most  extensive  and  beautiful  public  grounds  in  the  world, 
still  remain ;  but  the  addition  of  the  large  garden  to  the  Common 
has  so  altered  its  appearance  that  I  fail  to  recognize  it.  Ann 
Street,  where  stood  the  Eastern  Stage  House — then  the  best 
kept,  and,  until  the  Tremont  House  was  built  in  1831,  the  most 
popular  hotel  in  the  city  ;  and  Milk  Street — then  the  least 
attractive  of  its  streets,  are  now  bordered  by  blocks  of  granite 
and  brick.  Scores  of  acres  of  what  were  then  known  as  the 


6       MEX  AXD  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

"  Flats,"  covered  with  water  at  high  tide,  have  been  filled  up, 
and  are  now  the  fashionable  part  of  the  city.  In  one  part 
onlv — the  wharves — has  the  change  in  its  appearance  been  for 
the  worse.  It  was  then,  as  I  have  said,  a  commercial  city.  Its 
great  merchants  were  engaged  in  foreign  -trade,  from  which  its 
wealth  was  chiefly  derived.  Long  Wharf,  Central  Wharf,  and 
India  Wharf,  with  their  (as  it  seemed  to  me)  interminable 
lengths,  were  lined  with  warehouses,  and  their  slips  so  filled 
that  small  vessels  frequently  lay  side  by  side,  two  or  three 
together.  Now  they  are  quite  deserted.  What  was  then  the 
glory  of  Boston  has  disappeared.  It  is  no  longer  a  great  mari 
time  and  commercial  city.  It  has  increased  enormously  in 
population  and  wealth  ;  but  instead  of  the  ships  which  carried 
the  American  flag  over  the  seas  into  every  port  where  trade 
could  be  carried  on,  one  sees  at  its  docks  only  a  few  small 
vessels,  engaged  in  the  coastwise  trade,  in  which  by  our  navi 
gation  laws  foreign  ships  are  prevented  from  sharing. 

But  the  change  for  the  worse  is  not  witnessed  alone  in 
the  decline  of  New  England  shipping  and  commerce,  but  in 
the  character  of  its  population.  This  change  is  noticeable  in 
all  the  New  England  States  except  Vermont,  but  it  is  most 
conspicuous  in  Massachusetts,  especially  in  Boston.  Half  a 
century  ago  the  men  who  owned  the  city  governed  it — the 
men  who  collected  and  disbursed  its  revenues  represented  its 
property.  Now  the  control  is  rapidly  passing  into  the  hands 
of  those  who  have  little  or  no  stake  in  its  welfare.  There  was 
then — it  must  be  admitted — too  much  of  the  aristocracy  of 
wealth  in  the  ascendency ;  too  much  of  family  and  social  pride 
in  the  governing  classes ;  but  the  city  was  wisely  and  honestly 
governed.  Those  by  whose  taxes  the  city  government  was 
•  supported  controlled  the  disbursements.  Now,  if  those  who 
pay  no  taxes  but  the  poll  tax  were  united,  their  power  would 
be  very  formidable,  if  not  irresistible. 

The  population  of  Boston  in  1830  was  61,392.  In  1880,  it 
was  362,839 ;  but  unfortunately  this  increase  has  been  very 


DECREASE   OF   NATIVE-BORN    POPULATION.  7 

largely  in  foreigners  and  their  descendants.  There  has  been 
for  many  years  comparatively  little  increase — there  is  now 
scarcely  any  increase — in  her  native-born  American  population. 
There  are  very  few  large  families  among  the  well-to-do  people 
of  Boston.  The  same  is  becoming  true  throughout  the  East 
ern  States.  New  England  mothers  are  no  longer  prolific. 
The  family  jewels  are  not  sons  and  daughters,  but  stocks  and 
bonds,  and  luxurious  homes.  Large  families  are  not  the  fashion. 
The  births  in  wealthy  families  do  not  much  exceed  the  deaths. 
To  be  the  mother  of  man}7  children  is  not  a  crown  of  honor. 
The  command  to  increase  and  multiply  is  disobeyed  by  those 
who  are  the  most  competent  to  maintain  and  educate  their  off 
spring.  In  the  mean  time,  emigrants  from  Europe  and  Canada 
have  been  coming  in  to  be  laborers  in  the  city,  household  serv 
ants,  and  operatives  in  manufactories,  while  the  native-born 
and  enterprising  young  men  have  been  finding  employment 
and  making  their  homes  in  the  cities  and  inviting  fields  of 
other  States.  This  change  in  the  character  of  the  population 
of  New  England  is  going  steadily  on,  and  the  indications  are 
decided  that  the  control  of  the  cities  and  towns  of  at  least 
three  of  the  New  England  States  will  soon  be  in  the  hands  of 
men  who  have  not  a  drop  of  original  New  England  blood 
in  their  veins.  They  will  be  Yankee  States  in  name  only. 
Fortunately  what  is  their  loss  is  gain  to  other  States.  The 
emigrants  from  New  England  have  been  and  are  among  the 
leaders  in  all  great  enterprises  throughout  the  Union.  New 
England  influence  has,  in  a  large  measure,  moulded  the  sen 
timent  of  the  country,  to  which  influence  Massachusetts  has 
been  the  largest  contributor.  A\rhatever  may  be  the  result  of 
the  changes  in  the  character  of  her  people,  the  past  of  the  Old 
Bay  State  is  at  least  secure.  No  State  has  done  so  much  in 
aid  of  all  the  great  material  advances  of  the  day,  none  has 
done  so  much  to  sustain  public  credit,  as  Massachusetts.  It  is 
to  her  honor  that,  large  as  her  debt  was,  she  continued  to  pay 
the  interest  in  coin,  while  all  of  her  sister  States,  except  Cali- 


8       MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

fornia  (which  never  had  departed  from  the  coin  standard), 
paid  in  depreciated  legal-tender  notes.  The  temptation  to  do 
what  was  done  by  other  States  was  great.  Her  debt  was 
heavy,  and  in  some  years  its  annual  burden  was  doubled  by 
the  high  premium  which  gold  commanded  over  what  was 
called  lawful  money.  But  she  faltered  not  in  her  high  integ 
rity.  Upon  her  financial  banner  there  were  no  such  discredit 
able  words  as  "  pay  according  to  law,"  but  the  honest  words, 
"  pay  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  contract,  no  matter  what 
may  be  the  cost."  Her  course  was  wise.  The  reputation 
which  she  thus  acquired  more  than  compensated  her  for  the 
cost  of  the  coin  in  which  the  interest  on  her  debt  was  paid, 
and  confirmed  the  truth  of  the  adage  that  honesty  is  the  best 
policy.  She  made  her  credit  capital,  and  placed  it  upon  a 
foundation  as  solid  as  the  hills. 

For  her  wise  policy  in  the  treatment  of  her  debt,  and  her 
liberal  legislation  upon  all  important  questions  upon  which  she 
has  been  called  to.  act,  she  has  been  greatly  indebted  to  the 
influence  of  Boston.  I  knew  that  Boston  was  a  delightful 
city  to  live  in,  but  on  my  journey  westward  I  discovered  that 
its  good  name  was  of  value,  even  to  those  who  left  it.  On  my 
way  down  the  Ohio  River,  I  became  acquainted  with  a  very 
interesting  Kentuckian  who  was  carrying  on  an  extensive  mer 
cantile  business  in  Louisville.  As  I  had  thought  it  was  possi 
ble  that  I  might  make  my  home  in  Kentucky,  I  asked  him 
how  I  would  be  received  there.  "  Where  do  you  hail  from  ? " 
he  inquired.  "  From  Boston,"  I  replied.  "  All  right,"  said 
he ;  "  if  you  hail  from  Boston  you  will  be  kindly  received  in 
Kentucky,  and  everywhere  in  the  South.  There  is,"  continued 
he,  "  a  good  deal  of  prejudice  against  the  Yankees  in  all  the 
Southern  States,  but  not  against  Bostonians.  They  are  not 
considered  Yankees.  We  have  a  good  many  of  them  in  Louis 
ville,  and  there  are  no  more  popular  men  among  us."  I  am 
here  reminded  of  a  story  which  was  told  at  my  expense,  in 
1850,  by  a  Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  Mr.  Spaulding,  of  Ken- 


BISHOP  SPAULDING'S  ANECDOTE.  9 

tucky,  with  whom  I  was  on  intimate  terms,  which  illustrated 
the  estimation  in  which  New  England  people  were  held  in 
some  parts  of  the  slaveholding  States.  "  I  was,"  said  he, 
"some  years  ago,  travelling  in  the  interior  of  Missouri,  where 
the  settlements  were  sparse,  and  in  which,  there  being  no 
taverns,  I  was  compelled  to  stop  wherever  I  could  find  shelter 
and  food.  One  day  I  stopped  for  dinner  at  a  double  log  cabin 
of  more  than  usual  inviting  appearance.  A  good-looking- 
white  woman  welcomed  me  at  the  door,  and  upon  entering, 
I  perceived  that  everything  about  the  cabin  was  as  nice  as  a 
new  pin.  I  had  not  long  to  wait  for  dinner,  and  had  scarcely 
been  seated,  when  a  negro  came  in  and  took  a  chair  at  the 
table,  and  before  the  meal  was  over  I  discovered  that  he  was 
this  white  woman's  husband.  After  he  went  out  I  could  not 
help  expressing  my  astonishment  that  she  should  be  the  wife 
of  a  negro.  She  listened  quietly  to  what  I  said,  and  then 
remarked  that  for  her  part  she  couldn't  see  anything  bad 
about  that.  "  Why,  sir,"  said  she,  "  I  did  e-enough  sight  better 
'n  my  sister.  She  married  a  Yankee."  The  Bishop  laughed 
heartily  as  he  told  the  story,  and  I  joined  him  and  the  rest  of 
the  company  in  the  laugh. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Changes  in  New  England  Theology — The  Westminster  Catechism — Dr.  Chan- 
ning's  Sermon  at  the  Ordination  of  Mr.  Sparks — Division  of  the  Churches 
—The  Unitarians — The  Calvinists — Dr.  Beecher  tried  for  Heresy — Thomas 
Fessenden — His  Question  to  a  Dying  Christian — Plenary  Inspiration. 

AMONG  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  New  Eng 
land  in  the  last  half  a  century,  few  have  been  more  inter 
esting  than  the  changes  in  its  theology.  Fifty  years  ago  there 
were  a  few  Catholics  in  Boston,  and  the  Methodists  and  Bap 
tists  were  just  beginning  to  make  headway,  but  the  great 
body  of  the  people  were  Congregationalists,  who  were  sup 
posed  to  hold  substantially  the  same  doctrines.  The  West 
minster  Catechism  was  the  standard  of  religious  faith.  It 
was  taught  not  only  in  the  Sunday-schools,  but  in  the  common 
schools  and  in  the  academies.  It  was  regarded  by  many  with 
as  much  reverence  as  the  Bible.  I  recollect  to  have  heard  Mr. 
Pratt,  a  teacher  for  many  years  in  the  academy  at  Saco,  where 
the  Monday  morning  lesson  was  from  the  Catechism,  say  that 
he  numbered  the  books  in  his  library  according  to  their  value. 
"  To  which  do  you  give  Number  One  ? "  I  asked.  "  To  the 
Westminster  Catechism."  "  What !  do  you  place  that  above 
the  Bible  ? "  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  do,  because  it  contains,  in 
small  compass,  all  that  is  valuable  in  the  Scriptures."  As  it 
appeared  afterwards,  there  was  among  the  Congregationalists 
much  diversity  of  opinion,  but  all  nominally  held  to  the  doc 
trines  of  the  Puritan  fathers.  The  Dissenters  from  Calvinism 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  kept  their  opinions  to  them 
selves,  or  gave  no  such  expression  of  them  as  would  have  led 
to  discipline,  or  produced  a  rupture  in  the  churches.  It  was 
not  until  Dr.  Channin£  delivered  his  celebrated  sermon  at  the 


CHANNIXG   AND   THE   UNITARIANS.  11 

ordination  of  Mr.  Sparks  in  Baltimore,  in  1S10,  in  which  he 
attacked  with  great  cogency  and  eloquence  what  had  been 
regarded  as  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Christian  churches— 

O 

the  Trinity  and  Calvinism — that  the  diversity  in  religious  sen 
timent  became  manifest.  A  reckoning  was  then  commenced, 
and  divisions  speedily  followed,  and  to  such  an  extent  that 
there  were  very  few  of  the  New  England  churches  which  were 
not  split  in  twain.  In  Boston  and  the  large  towns  those  who 
agreed  with  Dr.  Channing  were  a  majority.  In  the  country 
and  the  villages  the  unity  of  the  GODHEAD  found  fewer  advo 
cates.  The  followers  of  Channing  were  known  as  Unitarians. 
The  adherents  to  the  old  doctrine  claimed  to  be  "  orthodox,'' 
and  clung  to  that  designation.  The  dividing  line  ran  not  only 
through  the  churches,  but  through  society  and  even  families. 
For  years  the  controversy  was  warm,  and  in  many  instances 
bitter.  Theological  discussion  became  the  order  of  the  dav. 

O  •. 

Old  and  young,  women  as  well  as  men,  took  part  in  the  con 
troversy,  with  a  spirit  ill  becoming  those  who  claimed  to  be 
the  followers  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  The  Scriptures  were 
examined  as  they  never  had  been,  not  so  much  in  search  of 
truth,  as  for  texts  to  support  opinions  already  formed.  The 
best  talent  in  New  England  was  brought  into  lively  exercise. 
Dr.  Channing  on  the  one  side,  and  Dr.  Stewart,  of  Andover, 
on  the  other,  were  the  most  conspicuous ;  but  other  divines, 
second  only  to  these  acknowledged  leaders,  were  earnest  com 
batants.  As  the  Trinity  and  Calvinism  were  attacked,  the 
churches  in  which  these  doctrines  were  adhered  to  became 
stricter  than  ever  before  in  their  requirements  for  church  mem 
bership.  Xone  could  be  admitted  whose  faith  did  not  come 
up  to  the  highest  Calvinistic  standard.  The  departure  from  it 
in  any  particular,  so  small  as  even  to  require  the  keenest  and 
most  subtle  intellect  to  define  it,  was  heterodoxy.  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  the  robust  teacher  of  Xew  England  orthodoxy,  who 
resigned  his  charge  in  Boston  to  take  the  Presidency  of  Lane 
Seminary,  near  Cincinnati,  and  to  supply  a  Presbyterian 


12      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

church  in  that  city,  was  arraigned  before  a  synod  on  a  charge 
of  heresy,  preferred  by  Dr.  Wilson,  the  pastor  of  one  of  the 
old-school  churches.  They  were  both  very  able  men,  skilful 
in  polemics  and  ready  in  debate.  The  trial  was  a  very  inter 
esting  one,  not  only  to  the  members  of  the  orthodox  churches 
in  Cincinnati,  but  to  theologians  throughout  the  country. 
Xor  was  the  interest  in  the  debate  lessened  by  the  fact  that 
very  few  could  exactly  understand  the  points  at  issue.  Dr. 
Beecher  was  acquitted,  but  Dr.  Wilson  never  recognized  him  as 
a  teacher  of  truth.  If  a  Calvinist  of  the  present  day  should 
examine  the  records  of  that  trial,  he  would  be  surprised  to  see 
how  little  of  intelligible  difference  there  was  between  these 
two  distinguished  combatants.  Both  were  Calvinists,  both 
were  disciples  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  both  thought  that  no 
one  who  did  not  embrace  Calvinism,  as  Edwards  had  defined 
it,  should  be  tolerated  in  an  orthodox  church ;  and  yet  the 
controversy  between  them  was  bitter  in  the  extreme. 

The  church  with  which  my  father  and  mother  were  con 
nected  sided  with  the  Unitarians,  but  a  small  part  of  the  con 
gregation  seceded  and  formed  another  church,  in  which  pure 
Calvinism  was  taught.  It  so  happened  that  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Kennebunk  was 
Unitarian,  while  the  majority  in  the  church  of  the  adjoin 
ing  town,  Kennebunk  Port,  was  overwhelmingly  Calvinistic. 
The  pastor  of  the  orthodox  church  at  the  Port  at  that  time 
was  Thomas  Fessenden,  uncle  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden, 
who  for  many  years  represented  the  State  of  Maine  in  the 
United  States  Senate  with  distinguished  ability,  of  whom  I 
shall  speak  hereafter.  The  uncle,  unlike  his  nephew,  was  a 
Calvinist  of  the  strictest  school.  With  him  the  fall  of  man  by 
the  sin  of  Adam,  total  depravity,  unconditional  election,  the 
perseverance  of  the  saints,  were  cardinal  doctrines,  the  belief 
in  which  was  essential  to  salvation.  He  believed  and  taught, 
as  did  Dr.  Griffin,  of  Boston,  that  one  of  the  highest  enjoy 
ments  of  the  saved  would  be  derived  from  witnessing,  as  they 


THOMAS   FESSEKDEN.  13 

looked  down  from  Heaven,  the  justice  of  the  Almighty  in  the 
indescribable  sufferings  of  the  lost.  The  test  of  faith,  accord 
ing  to  his  standard,  was  willingness  to  be  damned  for  theglorv 
of  God.  I  recollect  perfectly  well  how  excited  my  father  was 
when  he  described  a  scene  which  he  had  witnessed  a  few  hours 
before.  He  had  called  to  see  a  favorite  niece  of  my  mother — 
one  of  the  most  beautiful,  as  she  was  one  of  the  most  virtuous, 
of  women — who  was  dying  of  consumption.  While  he  was 
sitting  by  her  bedside,  Mr.  Fessenden  came  in.  Yielding  his 
seat  to  the  pastor,  my  father  took  one  a  short  distance  from 
the  bed,  and  listened  to  the  conversation  between  the  dying 
woman  and  her  Christian  teacher.  His  inquiries  were  in 
regard  to  her  spiritual,  not  her  physical  condition.  After  ask 
ing  her  many  questions  which  were  answered  satisfactorily, 
he  said  to  her :  "  Sister,  as  this  may  be  the  last  time  we  shall 
meet  in  this  world,  I  must  put  to  you  one  more  question — a 
crucial  question — Do  you  feel  that  you  are  willing  to  be 
damned  for  the  glory  of  God  ''.  "  She  had  heard  from  the 
pulpit  his  descriptions  of  hell,  and  the  unending  torments  of 
the  lost,  and  she  hesitated  to  reply.  After  waiting  a  few 
seconds,  he  put  the  question  again  in  a  tone  of  much  severity, 
to  which  she  faintly  responded,  "  Yes,  I  think  I  am."  Not  for 
her  own  sins,  but  for  the  sin  of  Adam,  she  was  forced  to  say 
that  she  was  willing  to  be  doomed  to  unending  and  indescrib 
able  torment.  Could  there  have  been  anything  more  horrible 
than  such  a  question,  by  a  minister  of  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
Gospel,  to  a  dying  Christian  woman  ?  I  never  went  to  hear 
Mr.  Fessenden  preach  after  that,  nor  did  I  hear  anything  more 
about  him  until,  some  forty  years  after,  I  asked  his  nephew, 
the  Senator,  what  became  of  his  uncle.  "  Oh,"  he  replied, 
'•  he  went  to  Europe  about  the  time  you  left  New  England, 
and  was  there  converted  from  Calvinism  ;  at  all  events  he 
never  preached  it  after  his  return." 

I  once  asked  a  Calvinistic  clergyman,  who  I  understood 
was  a  believer  in  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  if  he 


14     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

really  believed  that  the  Mosaic  account  of  Creation  was  liter 
ally  true.  "  Certainly  I  do,''  was  the  reply.  "  I  believe  that 
the  Scriptures  are  the  infallible  word  of  God,  and  that  every 
thing  therein  contained  was  written  under  the  direction  of  the 

O 

Holy  Spirit."  "  You  believe,  then,"  I  said,  "  that  this  world 
and  everything  therein,  and  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the 
stars  were  made  by  God  in  six  days — that  having  completed 
the  work  he  rested  on  the  seventli  day,  and  that  this  was  the 
origin  of  the  Christian  Sabbath  ? "  "  Most  assuredly,  sir, — to 
doubt  it  would  be  to  doubt  the  stability  of  the  foundation 
upon  which  all  true  churches  rest."  Surprised  at  this  answer 
from  a  very  able  and  learned  man,  I  questioned  him  still 
further :  "  You  believe,  then,  that  God  made  the  first  man 
Adam,  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  the  first  woman  Eve,  of 
one  of  Adam's  ribs,  and  having  thus  created  them  and  know 
ing  what  would  be  the  result,  He  placed  them  in  a  garden,  in 
which  the  woman  yielding  to  the  temptation  of  the  serpent, 
and  the  man  to  the  influence  of  the  woman,  were  guilty  of 
disobedience,  and  thereby  incurred  His  displeasure,  in  conse 
quence  of  which  their  descendants  throughout  all  ages  became 
the  objects  of  Divine  wrath ;  but  in  order  that  all  might  not 
perish,  He  did,  in  the  exercise  of  His  own  good  pleasure- 
without  reference  to  any  merits  on  their  part,  elect  a  mere 
fraction  of  the  race  to  be  the  recipients  of  His  favor,  leaving 
the  rest  to  suffer,  not  for  their  own  sins,  but  for  the  trans 
gression  of  their  progenitors,  and  notwithstanding  the  mission 
of  Christ,  unending  punishment.  How  can  you,"  I  went 
on  to  say,  "  reconcile  such  belief  as  this  with  the — I  will  not 
say  the  mercy,  but — the  justice  which  you  attribute  to  the  Al 
mighty  ? "  "I  undertake,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  undertake  to 
reconcile  nothing.  I  believe  the  Bible,  and  although  I  am  not 
able  to  comprehend  it,  I  believe  that  God's  justice  and  mercy 
in  the  world  to  come  will  be  as  manifest  in  the  punishment  of 
the  many  as  in  the  salvation  of  the  few."  Such  was  Calvin 
ism  as  then  taught  in  orthodox  churches.  To  me,  nothing 


CHANGES   IN   RELIGIOUS    SENTIMENT.  15 

could  be  more  strange  than  belief  in  such  a  Deity,  except  that 
He  should  be  the  object  of  adoration. 

Calvinism,  although  it  may  be  nominally  believed,  is  no\v 
rarely  taught  in  American  pulpits.  Outside  of  the  Andover 
School,  it  would,  I  think,  be  difficult  to  find  an  intelligent 
man  who  really  believes  what  were  considered  the  saving  doc 
trines  of  the  orthodox  churches  fifty  years  ago.  ]S"or  have 
the  changes  in  religious  sentiment  been  confined  to  those  who 
were  known  as  orthodox.  Unitarianism  has  changed  also. 
There  has  been  a  wide  departure  by  Unitarians  from  the 
Unitarianism  of  Dr.  Channing,  and  of  his  colleague,  Dr.  Gan 
nett.  Theodore  Parker,  with  whom  Unitarians  could  not 
fellowship  thirty  years  ago,  has  been  outstripped  in  liberality 
by  men  of  a  later  day.  There  are  now,  I  think,  very  few 
Unitarians  who  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  or  that 
Christ  was  Divine  in  any  other  sense  than  as  a  moral  teacher 
of  the  highest  character,  the  founder  of  a  religion  nobler  in  its 
aim  and  purer  in  its  precepts  than  any  other  that  has  ever 
existed.  There  has  been  evolution  in  religion,  and  there  will 
continue  to  be  as  long  as  mankind  advance  in  culture  and 
humanity.  The  idea  of  the  character  of  the  Deity  will  not 
hereafter  be  formed  by  that  ascribed  to  him  in  the  Old  Testa 
ment,  but  by  higher  conceptions  of  what  is  truly  excellent  and 
pure. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Boston — Its  Lawyers — Daniel  Webster — His  varied  Talents — His  Debate  with 
Hayne — Mr.  Calhoun— Sectional  Feeling — Race  between  a  Northern  and 
Southern  Horse — Mr.  Webster  before  a  Jury — Franklin  Dexter — Benja 
min  Curtis — W.  M.  Evarts — William  Groesbeck — Rufus  Choate — Richard 
Fletcher — Mr.  Choate  and  Mr.  Clay— Mr.  Burlingame  and  Mr.  Brooks — 
Theodore  Lyman— Harrison  Gray  Otis— Josiah  Quincy — Edward  Ever 
ett—Caleb  Cushing— Henry  W.  Longfellow — Oliver  W.  Holmes— Interest 
ing  Incident. 

IN  1831  and  1833  Boston  was  more  famous  than  now  for  its 
lawyers.  At  the  head  of  his  profession  then  stood  Mr. 
Webster,  one  of  the  few  men  who  have  obtained  great  dis 
tinction  as  lawyers  and  advocates,  orators  and  debaters. 
He  excelled  in  all  these  qualities,  and  in  this  respect  he 
was  without  an  equal  in  this  country  or  in  others.  I  call  to 
mind  none  who,  having  attained  great  eminence  in  the  legal 
profession,  fully  sustained  their  reputation  in  the  British  Par 
liament,  or  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  No  man 
can  read  Mr.  Webster's  argument  in  the  Dartmouth  Col 
lege  case  and  doubt  his  extraordinary  legal  ability ;  or  his 
speeches  in  the  Knapp  trials  without  being  impressed  with  the 
power  which  he  brought  to  bear  upon  a  jury  ;  or  his  grand 
orations  at  the  anniversary  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth,  and  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Bunker 
Hill  Monument,  without  acknowledging  him  to  have  been  an 
orator  of  the  very  highest  grade  ;  or  his  reply  to  Mr.  Hayne 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  in  the  great  debate  on  the  Foote 
Resolutions,  without  admitting  that  as  a  debater  'he  Avas  with 
out  an  equal. 

When  this  great  debate  took  place  I  was  a  student  in  tlie^ 
office  of  Joseph  Dane,  nephew  of  Nathan  Dane,  whom  Mr. 


WEBSTER'S  DEBATE  WITH  HAYNE.  17 

"Webster,  in  a  previous  speech,  had  eulogized  as  the  author  of 
the  ordinance  which  excluded  slavery  from  the  northwestern 
territory.  I  recollect  that  the  Whigs  who  gathered  together 
in  Mr.  Dane's  office  after  they  had  read  Mr.  Hayne's  speech, 
looked  and  talked  like  men  who  had  met  with  a  great  misfort 
une.  The  only  one  among  them  who  was  not  depressed  was 
Mr.  .Dane.  He  knew  Mr.  Webster  personally,  and  regarded 
him  as  the  superior  of  any  man  living  as  an  orator  and 
debater.  "Don't  be  discouraged,  gentlemen,"  said  he.  "Wait 
until  you  hear  from  Mr.  Webster."  They  had  not  long  to 
wait.  Two  days  after  Mr.  Webster's  reply  was  received. 
The  atmosphere  at  once  cleared  up.  A  weight  was  removed 
from  all  New  England  and  the  North  generally,  from  Demo 
crats  as  well  as  Whigs.  Mr.  Webster's  speech  was  not  merely 
the  great  speech  of  the  day — it  was  a  speech  that  had  never 
been  equalled  before.  It  has  never  been  equalled  since,  in  this 
country  or  in  any  other.  It  was  replete  with  eloquence  and 
power,  clear  in  statement,  grand  in  language,  irresistible  in 
argument.  Its  exordium  was  only  excelled  by  its  peroration, 
a  master-piece  of  patriotic  sentiment  and  rhetorical  beauty. 
The  debate  was  continued  for  some  days,  but  the  interest  in  it 
ceased  with  Mr.  Webster's  speech.  Mr.  Ilayne,  the  champion 
of  the  States'  Rights  doctrine,  having  been  discomfited,  there 
was  no  one  of  his  party  who  was  disposed  to  enter  the  lists 
against  the  champion.  At  the  next  session,  however,  Mr. 
Calhoun,  who  had  been  elected  Senator  in  place  of  Mr. 
Hayne,  and  who  it  was  supposed  was  not  quite  satisfied  with 
the  manner  in  which  the  nullification  doctrine  of  which  he 
was  the  exponent  had  been  handled,  re-opened  the  debate. 
He  was  a  more  cogent  logician  than  Mr.  Hayne,  but  he  was 
not  the  equal  of  Mr.  Webster,  and  while  he  sustained  his  high 
and  deserved  reputation,  the  general  sentiment  of  the  country 
was  that  he  shared  the  fate  of  his  predecessor. 

While   this   great   debate   was   really  a   contest   between 
Whigs  and  Democrats,  it  excited   much  sectional  feeling,  so 


18      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

that  the  sympathy  of  Southern  Whigs  was  with  Mr.  Hayne 
and  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  sympathy  of  Northern  Democrats  with 
Mr.  "Webster.  There  had  always  been  sectional  feeling  be 
tween  the  Northern  and  the  Southern  States,  and  this  feeling- 
was  sometimes  exhibited  on  occasions  of  trivial  importance. 
Some  years  before  it  appeared  in  a  horse-race  between  Bos 
ton,  a  Southern,  and  Eclipse,  a  Northern  horse,  and  there  was 
as  much  interest  manifested  in  it  as  if  the  destiny  of  the 
nation  depended  upon  the  result.  It  was  witnessed  by  hun 
dreds  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  the  Southern  States,  and 
a  very  large  number  of  Northern  men,  many  of  whom  had 
never  witnessed  a  race  of  this  kind,  and  would  not  have  been 
present  but  for  the  sectional  feeling  that  was  aroused.  The 
horses  were  the  finest  specimens  of  racers,  and  the  race  was 
a  very  close  one.  It  was  won  by  Eclipse,  and  the  result  was 
hailed  as  a  victory  for  the  North.  I  recollect  how  deeply 
the  Northern  boys  were  interested  in  it,  how  they  shouted  and 
threw  up  their  hats  in  the  air  when  the  result  was  announced. 
Sectional  feeling  existed  in  colonial  times.  It  was  intensified 
by  anti-slavery  associations  in  the  Free  States,  and  by  the 
denunciations  of  slavery  by  Northern  speakers  and  writers. 
The  abolition  of  slavery  has  not  put  it  to  rest.  It  will  never 
entirely  cease  until  the  negro  vote  is  divided  in  the  South,  as 
will  be  the  case  when  there  is  no  outside  interference  and  its 
unity  is  not  encouraged  for  other  purposes  than  the  general 
welfare. 

I  have  said  that  Mr.  "Webster  was  the  only  man  I  ever 
knew  or  heard  of  who  united  in  himself  the  highest  qualities 
of  an  advocate,  orator  and  debater.  He  has  never  been 
excelled,  if  equalled,  in  making  difficult  and  intricate  questions 
intelligible  to  jurors.  Seeing  clearly  the  real  points  at  issue, 
and  using  language  that  anybody  could  understand,  his  state 
ments  of  the  points  at  issue  were  arguments.  He  never 
permitted  the  minds  of  jurors  to  be  diverted  from  the  real 
question  upon  which  a  case  turned.  Brushing  aside  every- 


MR.    WEBSTER   BEFORE   A   JURY.  19 

thing  that  was  not  essential,  the  strong  points  only  were  pre 
sented  by  him,  and  those  with  exceeding  clearness.  I  was 
struck  with  this  the  first  time  I  heard  him  before  a  jury.  He 
was  defending  a  man  who  bad  been  indicted  for  forgery.  To 
obtain  a  verdict,  it  was  necessary  that  the  State  should  not 
only  prove  that  the  forgery  had  been  committed,  but  that  the 
forged  instrument  had  been  uttered  in  Suffolk  County,  where 
the  case  was  being  tried.  To  my  surprise,  at  the  very  com 
mencement  of  the  trial,  before  a  witness  had  been  called,  Mr. 
Webster  rose  to  his  feet  and  said  in  a  quiet  manner,  "  May  it 
please  the  Court,  we  admit  the  forgery,  so  that  evidence  on 
this  point  will  be  unnecessary.  We  deny  that  the  note  was 
uttered  in  this  county."  I  was  amazed  at  this  admission.  To 
me  it  seemed  to  be  giving  away  the  case.  But  the  wisdom 
of  it  soon  became  apparent.  Mr.  Webster  was  quite  sure  that 
the  forgery  could  be  proved,  but  he  doubted  that  the  State 
would  be  able  to  prove  that  the  paper  had  been  issued  in  Suf 
folk  County.  His  doubts  were  confirmed.  The  defendant 
was  acquitted  for  want  of  proof  on  this  point.  If  both  the 
question  of  forgery  and  of  the  issue  of  the  paper  in  the  county 
had  been  presented,  the  jury  might  have  regarded  the  forgery 
as  the  real  question,  and  the  defendant  might  not  have  escaped 
the  punishment  which  he  merited. 

Mr.  Webster's  eyes,  although  deep-set,  were  so  penetrating 
that  few  guilty  men  could  endure  their  piercing  gaze.  One  of 
his  clients  in  a  case  of  considerable  importance  informed  him 
that  he  thought  a  witness  on  the  other  side  intended  to  com 
mit  perjury.  "  Point  him  out  when  he  comes  into  the  court 
room,"  said  Mr.  Webster.  The  witness  soon  after  appeared 
and  took  a  seat  in  a  swaggering  manner,  when,  looking 
towards  the  bar,  his  eyes  met  those  of  Mr.  Webster  fixed 
steadily  upon  him.  He  immediately  looked  in  another  direc 
tion,  but,  as  if  fascinated,  he  soon  turned  his  face  again  towards 
Mr.  Webster,  to  meet  those  deep  penetrating  eyes,  which 
doubtless  seemed  to  him  to  read  his  very  soul.  He  moved 


20      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

nervously  in  his  seat  for  a  few  moments,  then  rose  and  left  the 
court-house,  to  which  he  could  not  be  induced  to  return.  I 
have  heard  the  opinion  expressed  that  in  legal  knowledge — 
that  is  to  say,  knowledge  of  the  law  as  contained  in  the  books 
—Mr.  "Webster  was  surpassed  by  such  men  as  Jeremiah  Mason 
and  Samuel  Parker  and  Chief- Justice  Shaw.  This  is  undoubt 
edly  true.  To  be  a  great  lawyer  in  that  sense  a  man  must  make 
the  law  a  constant  study,  and  not  aim  to  be  distinguished  in  any 
other  direction.  No  man  of  his  years  ever  excelled  Mr.  Web 
ster  as  a  lawyer  until  he  entered  into  public  life.  After  that  his 
attention  was  turned  to  constitutional  and  economic  questions, 
and  strictly  legal  studies  had  to  be  neglected.  In  the  argu 
ment  of  legal  questions  before  the  courts  his  briefs  were  prepared 
by  his  assistants,  and  no  man  knew  better  how  to  use  them. 

The  Boston  bar  at  that  time  included  many  eminent  men. 
Franklin  Dexter  was,  I  think,  the  son  of  Samuel  Dexter,  and 
was  scarcely  inferior  to  his  illustrious  father.  Benjamin  II. 
Curtis,  then  quite  a  young  man,  must  have  given  evidence 
of  what  was  in  him,  for  soon  after  he  obtained  the  very 
highest  rank  at  the  Boston  bar.  After  the  death  of  Mr. 
Story,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  but  he  did  not  long  hold  the  place.  The  cause  of 
his  resignation  I  have  never  heard,  but  I  know  that  it  was 
deeply  regretted  by  the  members  of  the  bar.  I  heard  Mr. 
Curtis  for  the  first  and  last  time  in  the  impeachment  trial 
of  President  Johnson.  Being  a  member  of  Mr.  Johnson's 
Cabinet,  I  felt  no  little  interest  in  the  trial,  and  it  is  possible 
that  my  judgment  might  have  been  influenced  by  that  fact ; 
but  a  recent  reading  of  his  opening  argument  satisfies  me 
that  it  was  what  I  then  regarded  it,  an  argument  of  mar 
vellous  clearness  and  force.  In  this  trial,  Mr.  Evarts  had  an 
opportunity  for  the  display  of  his  extensive  learning,  his  wit, 
and  his  extraordinary  command  of  language,  and  they  were 
displayed  in  a  manner  that  charmed  all  who  heard  him  except 
the  prosecuting  lawyers  and  the  Senators  whose  prejudice 


BEXJ.   R.  CLTRTIS,   MR.  EVARTS  AND  WM.  GROESBECK.     21 

against  Mr.  Johnson  extended  to  his  counsel ;  but  in  clearness 
of  statement  and  concentrated  logic,  it  was  inferior  to  that 
of  Mr.  Curtis.  The  two  speeches,  however,  ought  not  to  be 
compared.  They  were  different,  and  they  differed  as  the 
men  differed,  in  their  intellectual  composition,  but  that  both 
speeches  were  of  consummate  ability  is  undeniable.  This  trial 
resembled  that  of  Warren  Hastings  in  many  respects,  but  in 
none  more  than  in  the  high  qualities  of  the  leading  lawyers 
who  were  employed  in  the  defence.  Burke  and  Sheridan  in 
the  trial  of  Hastings ;  Curtis  and  Evarts  in  that  of  Johnson. 
In  this  trial  a  gentleman  was  associated  with  Mr.  Curtis  and 
Mr.  Evarts  who  was  then  little  known  as  a  lawyer,  outside  of 
Cincinnati — Mr.  William  Groesbeck.  He  was  then  in  feeble 
health,  and  his  physical  strength  gave  way  once  or  twice  in  the 
course  of  his  argument ;  but  his  speech  was  so  remarkably 
vigorous  and  able  that  I  repeatedly  heard  the  expression,  that 
it  was  unfortunate  for  the  country  that  a  man  of  such  high 
culture  and  legal  ability  should  have  been  the  son  of  one  rich 
man  and  the  son-in-law  of  another  still  richer,  and  that  his 
chief  employment  was  necessarily  found  in  the  management 
of  his  large  estates. 

But  to  return  to  the  Boston  lawyers  :  Rufus  Choate,  then 
a  young  man,  was  beginning  to  take  high  rank  in  his  profes 
sion.  Richard  Fletcher  had  recently  come  from  Xew  Hamp 
shire  or  Vermont  with  a  distinguished  reputation  for  his  legal 
acquirements  and  acumen.  Both  he  and  Mr.  Choate  were 
afterwards  members  of  Congress,  the  former  in  the  House,  the 
latter  in  the  Senate,  and  both  failed  to  meet  the  expectations 
of  their  friends.  Mr.  Fletcher  had  asserted  that  a  bill  under  dis 
cussion  had  been  prepared  word  for  word  in  the  White  House, 
and  not  by  the  committee  which  reported  it.  This  was  denied 
by  some  of  the  members  of  the  committee,  in  language  stronger 
and  more  personal  than  was  parliamentary.  Called  upon  for 
proof,  Mr.  Fletcher  was  unable  to  make  good  his  assertion, 
and,  in  the  estimation  of  the  House,  was  convicted  of  making  a 


22      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

statement  for  which  he  had  no  warrant.  Mr.  Choate  failed, 
not  for  want  of  abilit}7  but  for  want  of  nerve.  In  an  alterca 
tion  with  Mr.  Clay,  he  quailed  before  the  threatening  manner 
of  the  great  Kentuckian,  and  was  consequently  supposed  to  be 
deficient  in  pluck,  which  defect  was  in  those  days,  and  is  still, 
fatal  to  a  man  in  public  life.  A  person  who  'witnessed  the 
altercation,  said  to  me :  "  Choate  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  in 
the  Senate.  If  he  had  knocked  Mr.  Clay  down  instead  of 
quailing  before  him,  he  would  have  been  a  Webster."  Pluck  is 
needed  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  but  in  no  place  more  than  in  Con 
gress.  The  sentiment  of  New  England  was  strongly  hostile  to 
duelling? but  Mr.  Anson  Burlingame  did  not  suffer  by  his  accept 
ance  of  the  challenge  of  Mr.  Preston  S.  Brooks.  On  the  con 
trary,  he  was  the  gainer  by  it  throughout  the  country  as  well 
as  in  Massachusetts.  There  were  many  other  lawyers  at  the 
Suffolk  bar,  hardly  less  distinguished  than  those  I  have  named, 
but  all  have  disappeared  except  Sidney  Bartlett,  who,  during 
a  long  life — he  must  now  be  nearly  ninety — has  maintained 
the  very  highest  reputation  as  citizen  and  lawyer. 

Nor  was  Boston  less  distinguished  by  its  sons  who  were 
not  connected  with  the  legal  profession.  Theodore  Lyman, 
father  of  the  gentleman  of  the  same  name  who  deservedly 
stood  high  in  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  was  a  gentleman  of 
the  highest  culture  and  of  commanding  influence.  Harrison 
Gray  Otis,  who  conferred  honor  upon  the  distinguished  name 
he  bore,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  social  and  intellectual  society 
of  Boston.  He  was  a  man  of  whom  any  city  or  State  might 
justly  have  been  proud.  Simple  in  manners,  pure  in  character, 
highly  cultured,  he  was  a  gentleman  of  the  best  type  of  what 
is  called  the  old  school.  He  was  one  of  the  most  graceful  and 
captivating  of  speakers,  and  as  an  elocutionist  second  only  to 
Dr.  Channing.  The  first  time  I  heard  him  was  when  he  was 
chairman  of  a  large  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall.  He  made,  of 
course,  the  opening  speech,  and  as  I  listened,  I  thought  it  the 
perfection  of  eloquence.  The  next  morning  it  was  published 


HARRISOX   GRAY   OTIS.  23 

in  the  newspapers,  and  although  correctly  reported,  it  did  not 
read  like  the  speech  that  had  excited  m}r  admiration.  The 
speech  was  a  good  one,  but  it  was  the  charming  voice,  the 
graceful  delivery,  the  perfect  elocution,  that  made  it  seem  to 
be  a  speech  of  extraordinary  eloquence.  The  only  time  I  ever 
heard  Mr.  Webster  in  Faneuil  Hall  was  at  a  meeting  of  which 
Mr.  Otis  was  chairman,  soon  after  the  veto  by  President  Jack 
son  of  the  bill  making  appropriations  for  the  extension  of  the 
national  road  to  the  Mississippi.  In  speaking  of  the  nation 
ality  of  the  enterprise,  of  the  necessity  of  it  as  a  means  of 
communication  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  States,  Mr. 
Webster  said:  "There  is  no  road  leading  everywhere;  no  road 
over  which  everybody  or  even  a  majority  of  the  people  travel, 
except,  except," — and  here  he  seemed  to  be  at  a  loss  for  a 
word — "  except  the  road  to  ruin,"  interjected  Mr.  Otis,  in  his 
clear  and  penetrating  voice  : — "  Except  the  road  to  ruin," 
shouted  Mr.  Webster,  "  and  that's  an  Administration  road !  " 
when  down  came  a  thousand  feet  upon  the  floor  of  the  grand 
old  hall  with  an  emphasis  that  made  its  thick  walls  tremble  as 
if  struck  by  a  thunderbolt. 

Hardly  less  eminent  than  Mr.  Otis,  by  birth  and  social  posi 
tion,  and  superior  to  him  in  scholarship,  was  Josiah  Quincy, 
then  President  of  Harvard  University.  Both  were  Federalists 
(there  were  then  very  few  high-toned  men  in  Massachusetts  who 
were  not) ;  both  lived  to  be  old  men — Mr.  Otis  to  be  eighty- 
three,  Mr.  Quincy  to  be  ninety-two.  Alike  in  most  respects, 
they  differed  radically  upon  the  slavery  question.  Mr.  Quincy 
was  an  abolitionist,  in  open  sympathy  with  Garrison ;  Mr.  Otis, 
if  not  pro-slavery  in  sentiment,  was  hostile  to  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  which  he  regarded  as  being  fanatical  and  dangerous 
to  the  Union.  It  seems  strange  that  these  two  men,  after  they 
had  retired  from  active  political  life,  both  able  to  look  upon 
the  subject  from  the  same  standpoint,  both  clear-headed,  pa 
triotic  and  disinterested,  should  have  held  opposite  opinions 
upon  the  most  vital  question  of  the  day. 


24      MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Edward  Everett  was  then  second  only  to  Mr.  Webster  as  an 
orator.  In  scholarship  and  manner  of  speaking,  he  was  Mr. 
Webster's  superior.  He  was  perhaps  the  finest  classical  scholar 
of  the  day,  the  greatest  linguist  that  ever  went  to  Congress, 
except  Caleb  Gushing.  It  was  said  of  Mr.  Gushing  that  he 
could  translate  all  the  European  languages ;  that  while  in 
Congress  there  came  to  the  State  Department  a  document 
that  no  one  in  that  Department  could  interpret.  Upon  the 
suggestion  of  some  one  who  had  heard  of  Mr.  Cushing's  repu 
tation  as  a  linguist,  it  was  sent  to  him,  and  he  translated  it 
without  difficulty.  Mr.  Gushing  was  a  ready  and  effective 
speaker,  and  a  very  able  and  learned  lawyer.  He  was  one  of 
the  few  men  whose  voice  could  be  heard  in  the  chamber  of 
the  old  House  of  Representatives,  and  who  never  spoke  with 
out  commanding  the  attention  of  the  members.  lie  lacked 
only  one  thing,  the  possession  of  which  would  have  made  him 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  time — convictions. 
Mr.  Everett  did  not  maintain  his  high  reputation  in  Congress. 
He  was  an  orator,  not  a  debater,  and  he  was  too  refined  in 
character,  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  be  perfectly  at  home 
in  the  lowrer  House  of  Congress. 

Mr.  Longfellow  was  then,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  living  in 
Maine,  and  had  given  but  slight  indications  of  the  genius 
which  subsequently  manifested  itself  in  the  poetry  which  has 
made  his  name  immortal.  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  a 
few  years  younger  than  Mr.  Longfellow.  I  never  heard  of 
him  till  some  years  after,  and  then  by  his  "•  Table-Talk"  which 
arrested  public  attention,  and  which  will  never  fail  not  only  to 
amuse  but  to  instruct.  Since  then,  his  name  has  become,  like 
Mr.  Longfellow's,  a  household  word.  In  varied  accomplish 
ments  Dr.  Holmes  has  but  few  equals.  An  admirable  talker, 
a  fascinating  lecturer,  an  excellent  prose  writer,  and  a  poet 
hardly  inferior  to  Mr.  Longfellow  or  Mr.  Whittier,  he  unites 
in  himself  more  high,  and  I  may  say  more  lovable  qualities 
than  any  man  of  whom  I  have  any  knowledge.  It  may  be 


OLIVER    WENDELL   HOLMES.  25 

truly  said  that  few  men  have  done  more  to  make  the  world 
happier  and  better  than  Dr.  Holmes. 

I  had  been  a  great  admirer  of  Dr.  Holmes  before  I  met 
him,  for  the  first  time,  in  1878,  when  I  went  to  Cambridge  to 
deliver  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  University  on  the  invitation 
of  President  Eliot  (who,  by  the  way,  is  the  only  man  that  I 
have  known  in  whom  with  ripe  scholarship  and  extensive 
learning  are  united  administrative,  executive  and  business 
capacity  of  a  very  high  order).  An  incident  occurred  there 
which  seemed  almost  to  create  a  relationship  between  us.  My 
brother  Thomas,  the  best  man  and  the  best  scholar  of  his 
Harvard  College  class,  died  at  the  commencement  of  his  senior 
year  in  1817,  and  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  near  the  col 
lege.  Over  his  grave  his  classmates  (one  of  whom  was  John 
Everett,  brother  of  Edward)  placed  a  very  handsome  marble 
slab  with  an  inscription,  prepared  by  the  professor  of  lan 
guages  in  the  college,  which  is  said  by  scholars  to  be  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  pieces  of  Latin  composition  that  was  ever 
written.  On  the  day  before  I  delivered  my  first  lecture,  Dr. 
Holmes  and  President  Eliot  were  comparing  notes  as  to  what 
each  knew  about  interesting  things  in  Cambridge.  Dr.  Holmes 
claimed  that,  although  he  was  a  citizen  of  Boston,  his  knowledge 
of  what  had  happened  in  Cambridge  Avas  better  than  Eliot's, 
although  he  was  President  of  the  University.  "You  don't 
know,  for  instance,"  he  said,  "  where  the  students  were  buried 
before  we  had  Mount  Auburn.''  He  then  repeated  the  inscrip 
tion  referred  to.  "  What  do  you  think  of  that  ? "  "  It  is  very 
beautiful,  indeed,"  said  Mr.  Eliot,  "and  perhaps  you  don't 
know  that  Mr.  McCulloch,  who  is  to  speak  to  us  upon  finance, 
is  a  brother  of  him  whose  epitaph  you  have  repeated."  "  Xo, 
indeed,"  said  Dr.  Holmes.  "  I  shall  be  right  glad  to  meet  him." 
He  called  upon  me  the  next  day,  and  informed  me  how  he 
happened  to  know  anything  about  my  brother.  "  My  father," 
he  said,  "  was  a  clergyman  in  Cambridge  when  your  brother 
was  at  the  college.  He  visited  him  every  day,  and  sometimes 


26      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

oftener,  during  his  illness,  and  manifested  so  deep  an  interest 
in  his  sad  case,  that  although  I  was  but  eight  years  old  I 
became  greatly  interested  in  it  also.  I  went  to  your  brother's 
funeral,  and  there  have  been  very  few  years  since  in  which 
I  have  not  visited  his  grave.  The  circumstances  of  your 
brother's  sickness  and  death  are  fresh  to  me  now."  Since  that 
interview  with  Dr.  Holmes,  I  have  felt  something  more  than 
admiration  of  him. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Boston  Clergy:  Channing,  Gannett,  Parker,  Lowell,  Ware,  Pierpont,  Pal 
frey,  Blagden,  Edward  Beecher,  Frothingham,  Emerson,  Ripley,  Walker — 
Outside  of  Boston:  Upham,  Whitman  and  Nichols,  Father  Taylor,  the 
Sailor  Preacher — James  Freeman  Clarke — Edward  Everett  Hale — M.  J. 
Savage — Decline  of  Unitarianism — The  Catholic  Church — Progress  of 
Liberal  Thought — Position  of  the  Churches  in  regard  to  Slavery — The 
Slave  Question. 

DISTINGUISHED  as  Boston  was  in  1832  by  its  lawyers 
and  literary  men,  it  was  still  more  distinguished  by  its 
clergy.  There  were  Channing  and  Gannett,  his  colleague, 
Parker,  Lowell  and  Ware,  Pierpont,  Walker,  Frothingham, 
and  Palfrey,  among  the  leading  Unitarians;  and  Blagden, 
Edward  Beecher,  and  many  others  whose  names  I  have  forgot 
ten,  among  the  orthodox.  It  cannot  be  said  that  this  was  a 
period  of  religious  revival,  but  it  was  a  time  when  theology 
engrossed  the  public  attention  in  an  unprecedented  degree, 
and  when  the  keenest  intellects  were  engaged  in  theological 
study  and  discussion.  There  was  an  array  of  talent  in  the 
Boston  pulpit  that  has  never  been  equalled  since.  At  the  head 
was  Dr.  Channing,  than  whom  there  never  lived  a  purer  man 
or  more  consistent  Christian,  or  one  who  to  a  greater  degree 
exemplified  in  his  character  the  doctrines  which  he  taught ; 
whose  elocution  was  so  perfect  and  sympathetic  ;  whose 
thoughts  were  so  elevated,  that  without  a  gesture  and  without 
raising  liis  eyes  from  his  manuscript,  he  used  to  bring  tears 
into  the  eyes  of  the  most  critical  men  in  Boston.  Xever  physi 
cally  strong,  he  became  so  feeble  towards  the  latter  period  of 
his  life  that  he  had  to  rest  entirely  during  the  week  days  in 
order  that  he  might  be  at  his  desk  on  Sunday  mornings,  when 


28      MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

he  spoke  with  his  old-time  vigor.  His  brilliant  intellect  shone 
out  to  the  last,  and  his  voice,  that  no  one  could  listen  to  with 
out  delight,  never  lost  its  sweetness.  The  little  book  which 

o 

he  wrote  upon  slavery  presented,  in  language  at  which  slave 
holders  themselves  could  not  take  offence,  arguments  against 
the  peculiar  institution  of  unequalled  force.  His  essays  upon 
Milton  and  Napoleon  were  not  surpassed  by  the  best  of  Alli 
son's  or  Macaulay's.  His  sermons  were  models  of  pulpit 
oratory,  breathing  the  very  spirit  of  Him  whom  he  considered 
the  inspired  teacher.  It  is  not  strange  that  his  name  to  this 
day  is  reverenced  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

It  is  enough  to  say  of  Dr.  Gannett,  that  he  was  fit  to  be 
the  colleague  of  one  so  illustrious,  and  yet  they  resembled  each 
other  very  little  except  in  their  earnestness  and  faith.  Dr. 
Channing  abounded  in  emotion,  but  was  without  passion,  and 
except  in  his  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Sparks,  was  never 
aggressive.  Gannett  was  not  wanting  in  Christian  charity, 
but  so  full  of  zeal  was  he  that  his  controversial  armor  was 
always  on,  and  so  enthusiastic  that  he  seemed  out  of  place  in  a 
Unitarian  pulpit. 

If  I  could  do  so  without  dwelling  too  long  upon  the  Bos 
ton  clergy,  I  should  be  glad  to  speak  of  other  distinguished 
preachers  whom  I  frequently  heard :  of  Pierpont,  who  always 
attracted  large  audiences ;  of  Lowell,  the  distinguished  father 
of  the  more  distinguished  son  ;  of  Henry  Ware,  who  greatly 
resembled  Dr.  Channing  in  mind  and  character;  of  Palfrey, 
who  in  general  learning  was  surpassed  by  no  man  in  his  day ; 
of  Putnam,  of  Koxbury,  who  read  the  Scriptures  with  so  much 
expression  that  they  seemed  like  a  ne\vr  revelation ;  of  Froth- 
ingham,  the  classic  scholar  and  beautiful  writer ;  of  Walker, 
distinguished  for  his  scholarship  and  power  as  a  speaker ;  of 
Ripley  and  Emerson,  both  young  men  then  of  great  promise, 
but  who,  unable  to  keep  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Unita 
rian  faith,  abandoned  their  pulpits,  the  former  to  become  a 
literary  critic  of  the  highest  distinction,  the  latter  to  be  a 


THE   BOSTON   CLERGY.  29 

leader  in  Transcendentalism,  and  a  philosopher  and  thinker  of 
world-wide  reputation.  Outside  of  Boston  and  its  vicinitv 
there  were  Nichols  and  Whitman  of  Portland,  and  Upham  of 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  who  were  men  of  extraordinary 
ability,  whom  I  frequently  heard  in  Kennebunk.  Upham  was 
one  of  the  most  diffident  and  bashful  of  men  outside  the  pulpit, 
but  in  the  pulpit  he  was  perfectly  at  home,  and  very  few  men 
commanded  to  a  greater  degree  the  attention  of  his  audiences. 
Whitman  was  troubled  with  asthma,  but  he  was  a  brilliant 
writer  and  an  energetic  speaker.  Dr.  Nichols  was  remarkable 
for  the  sententious  compactness  of  his  sermons  and  his  scholar 
ship.  One  of  his  sermons,  upon  the  value  of  Sunday  as  a  day  of 
rest,  I  recollect  with  perfect  distinctness,  although  it  was  deliv 
ered  nearly  sixty  years  ago.  After  speaking  of  the  Sabbath  as 
being  of  Divine  ordination,  and  evidence  of  Divine  wisdom, 
he  combated  the  argument  of  those  who  were  opposed  to  its 
observance  on  the  ground  that  laboring  men  could  not  afford 
to  lose  a  seventh  part  of  their  time,  when  the  whole  was  needed 
to  provide  for  the  wants  of  their  families,  by  contending  that 
there  was  so  much  work  to  be  done  in  the  world,  and  that  the 
laboring  men  received  as  much  for  six  days'  work  as  they 
would  for  seven ;  and  he  concluded  the  discussion  in  his  usual 
emphatic  manner  by  saying  :  "  To  sum  up  this  whole  question, 
the  poor  men  have  a  day  of  rest,  and  the  rich  men  have  to  pay 
for  it." 

But  among  all  the  clergymen  of  Boston,  there  was  no  man 
more  respected,  no  one  who  did  more  good  in  the  pulpit  and  out 
of  it,  than  Father  Taylor,  the  sailor  preacher.  Himself  a  sailor 
in  early  life,  he  understood  the  sailors'  wants,  and  the  tempta 
tions  as  well  as  dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed,  and  he 
labored  to  improve  their  habits  and  condition  with  an  unfalter 
ing  earnestness,  which  showed  that  his  whole  soul  was  in  his 
work.  He  did  much  to  improve  the  character  of  the  sailor 
boarding-houses,  which  were  then  among  the  pests  of  the  city, 
and  to  promote  temperance  among  the  sailors.  On  almost  any 


30      MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

day  one  might  have  seen  him  in  the  streets  near  the  wharves, 
with  a  knot  of  seamen  about  him,  listening  to  his  counsels  like 
children  to  a  father.  His  chapel  was  a.  plain  but  good-sized 
building,  upon  which,  a  half-hour  before  services  were  com 
menced,  the  United  States  flag  was  hoisted  as  being  a  more 
suitable  invitation  to  sailors  than  the  ringing  of  a  bell.  It  was 
seldom  indeed  that  the  chapel  was  not  well  filled.  As  vessels 
were  constantly  coming  and  going,  his  hearers  (they  could 
hardly  be  called  a  congregation)  were  as  constantly  changing, 
and  during  the  long  time  that  he  preached  in  Boston,  there 
were  few  sailors  who  came  to  the  city  who  did  not  ffo  to  hear 

*/  O 

him,  and  more  attentive  and  interested  hearers  would  not  be 
found  in  any  of  the  city  churches. 

Father  Taylor  was  a  natural,  and  in  his  way  a  gifted 
orator,  and  never  failed  to  command  the  attention  of  the  com 
monest  sailors.  He  knew  just  what  to  say,  and  how  to  say  it. 
I  was  very  much  struck  with  this  faculty  when,  one  Sunday, 
as  he  was  entering  the  chapel,  a  note  was  handed  him  contain 
ing  a  verse  from  the  Bible,  from  which  he  was  desired  to 
preach.  He  read  the  note,  which  was  signed  "'  An  Aged  Sea 
man,"  but  instead  of  preaching  from  the  verse,  he  made  the 
signature  his  text.  •'  An  aged  seaman,"  he  repeated  in  a  tone 
of  impressive  sadness — "•  an  aged  seaman  !  and  why  are  there 
so  few  aged  seamen  2  Why  is  it,  among  the  hundreds  that  are 
before  me,  that  there  is  not  a  single  old  man,  scarcely  one  who 
is  past  middle  age  \  "  He  then  went  on  to  give  the  reasons  in 
language  that  thrilled  his  hearers  like  a  trumpet.  He  spoke 
of  intemperance  and  other  vices  for  which  they  were  them 
selves  responsible,  in  words  of  severity  and  warning.  Much 
they  had  not  received,  and  much  would  not  be  required  of 
them,  but  for  what  they  had  received  they  would  be  account 
able  on  that  great  day  when  the  sea  and  the  land  should  give 
up  their  dead.  Then,  in  a  different  strain,  he  spoke  of  the 
dangers  to  which  they  were  exposed,  and  which  had  shortened 
the  lives  of  so  many  fearless  men  ;  of  the  hurricanes  which 


FATHER  TAYLOR.  31 

nothing  could  withstand  ;  of  the  lee  shore,  with  its  ragged 
reefs  upon  which  so  man}7  gallant  ships  were  hurled  by  the 
pitiless  winds  and  waves;  of  the  seamen  struggling,  struggling 
in  vain  in  the  surging  billows,  in  tones  that  brought  tears  to 
faces  which  had  been  hardened  by  vice  and  exposure,  and 
when  he  closed  with  the  words,  "  God  save  the  mariners  when 
no  human  hand  can  save,  in  the  raging  of  the  great  deep  ; 
God  be  merciful  to  those  who  are  sunk  in  vices  deeper  and 
more  dreadful  than  the  sea ! "  and  dropped  upon  his  knees  to 
pray,  every  one  of  that  large  assembly  knelt  also.  It  was 
altogether  a  most  impressive  scene — those  hardy  men  for 
whom  the  world  cared  so  little,  listening  to  their  beloved 
preacher,  tears  streaming  down  their  faces,  showing  how  deep 
was  their  interest  in  his  words,  and  bending  their  knees  and 
heads  with  him  in  prayer — a  scene  never  to  be  forgotten. 

Father  Taylor  was  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  He 
could  hardly  read  when  he  commenced  preaching,  but  by 
giving  to  study  every  hour  which  was  not  employed  in  his 
regular  work,  he  became  a  man  of  considerable  education. 
His  entire  deficiency  in  this  respect  in  his  early  life,  and  his 
hard  work  to  overcome  that  deficiency,  made  him  careful  in 
regard  to  the  education  of  his  children.  One  of  his  daughters, 
Mrs.  Bradford,  wife  of  General  Bradford,  Paymaster  of  the 
United  States  lSTavy  Department,  was  one  of  the  best  educated 
women  and  best  talkers  that  I  ever  met.  Father  Taylor  was 
made  comfortable  in  pecuniary  matters  long  before  he  died, 
and  he  left  behind  him  as  many  sincere  mourners  as  any  man 
of  his  time.  He  never  permitted  himself  to  be  troubled  about 
the  dogmas  of  religion,  and  he  was  honored  and  beloved  by 
the  clergy  of  different  denominations  who  witnessed  his  good 
work.  The  only  bad  treatment  he  ever  received  was  from  Dr. 
Breckenridge  of  Kentucky,  who  had  a  decided  and  uncontrol 
lable  antipathy  against  all  preachers  who  did  not  stand  square 
upon  the  old  Presbyterian  platform. 

The  period  to  which  I  have  referred  was  the  palmy  clay 


32  MEN   AND    MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

of  Unitarianism,  which,  if  not  declining,  is  making  small 
progress  in  comparison  with  that  made  by  other  denomina 
tions.  It  still  numbers  in  its  clergy  James  Freeman  Clarke, 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  M.  J.  Savage,  and  other  men  of  merited 
distinction,  but  besides  these  it  can  no  longer  point  to,  as  its 
champions,  such  men  as  Channing,  Dewey,  Ware,  Lowell, 
Gannett,  Whitman,  TJpham,  Nichols  and  Walker.  The  causes 
of  this  decline  are  obvious.  Unitarianism  is  an  intellectual 
faith  ;  it  fails  to  meet  the  natural  craving  for  a  religion  that 
appeals  to  feeling  and  enlists  the  sensibilities.  It  neither 
claims  Divine  origin,  nor  to  be  the  only  door  through  which 
entrance  is  to  be  obtained  to  the  divine  life.  As  the  belief  in 
the  supernatural  dies  out,  the  religious  sentiment  weakens. 
There  never  has  been,  and  probably  there  never  will  be,  a 
deep,  settled,  wide  spread  religious  faith  that  is  not  based  upon 
its  claims  to  supernatural  ordination.  This  is  not  claimed  for 
their  faith  by  Unitarians.  There  are  very  few  of  this  denomi 
nation  who  believe  in  the  plenar}7  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures, 
or  who  regard  the  Bible  as  anything  more  than  a  national 
and  literary  history  of  the  Jewish  nation,  covering  a  long 
period,  and  largely  made  up  of  Jewish  traditions  of  the 
Creation,  and  Jewish  notions  of  the  character  of  the  Deity  : 
the  most  wonderful  of  books,  but  not  the  product  of  Divine 
inspiration.  Then  too,  the  form  of  worship  in  Unitarian 
churches  is  severely  simple.  There  is  nothing  in  it  to  please 
the  eye  or  to  excite  the  fancy.  It  lacks  the  ceremony  and  pomp 
which  render  worship  in  Catholic  churches  to  ordinary  men 
so  interesting.  Unitarians  are  of  course  tolerant,  and  tolerance 
in  theology  is  an  evidence  of  the  absence  of  strong  conviction. 
Much  as  toleration  is  commended,  no  church  that  favors  it  can 
ever  be  numerically  strong.  The  church  whose  claims  are  the 
highest  will  always  have  the  largest  following.  Charity  may 
cover  a  multitude  of  sins,  but  the  church  that  throws  the  broad 
mantle  of  charity  over  churches  of  a  different  faith,  will  not  be 
permanently  strong  in  its  membership.  The  growth  and  per- 


TOLERANCE   IN   RELIGION.  33 

manency  of  the  Catholic  Church  are  largely  the  .result  of  its 

claims  to  infallibility.     Admirable  as  it  is  in  its  organization 

the  most  perfect  that  has  ever  existed — it  would  lose  its  hold 
upon  its  people  if  this  claim  to  infallibility  were  relinquished, 
and  it  should  become  so  liberal  towards  other  denominations 
as  to  admit  that  there  could  be  safety  for  those  around  whom 
it  had  not  thrown  its  protecting  arms. 

In  contemplating  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in 
the  theology  of  the  United  States  during  the  last  fifty  years, 
one  cannot  fail  to  observe  that  liberal  thought  has  made  the 
greatest  progress  where  there  was  formerly  the  least  of  it. 
For  two  hundred  years  Puritanism  held  the  New  England 
churches  in  its  iron  grasp.  When  the  grasp  was  loosened, 
a  reaction  took  place,  and  liberal  thought  asserted  itself  with 
a  power  which  seemed  to  have  been  invigorated  by  its  long 
suppression ;  and  yet,  strange  as  it  now  seems,  it  was  a  long 
time  before  the  people  of  New  England  became  so  tolerant 
as  to  sanction  a  free  expression  of  anti-slavery  sentiments. 
It  was  long  after  this  emancipation  of  thought,  that  such 
men  as  Garrison  and  Phillips  were  mobbed  in  Boston,  and 
that  Miss  Martineau,  who  had  been  received  with  open  arms 
by  the  cultured  society  of  that  city,  was  socially  ostracized 
by  the  same  society,  as  soon  as  she  was  known  to  be  in  pro 
nounced  sympathy  with  the  anti-slavery  leaders.  It  is  still 
more  strange  that  the  strongest  supporters  of  the  peculiar  in 
stitution  were  found  in  the  churches.  To  their  honor  it  must 
be  said,  that  the  Unitarian  churches,  under  the  lead  of  Dr. 
Channing,  were  the  first  to  break  ground  against  slavery.  It 
was  noticeable  that  the  position  of  the  churches  in  regard  to 
this  great  question  was,  in  most  cases,  defined  by  their  creeds. 
The  churches  whose  corner-stone  was  the  plenary  inspiration 
of  the  Scriptures,  which  sanctioned  slavery,  could  not  regard 
it  in  the  United  States  as  being  sinful,  or  inconsistent  with 
Divine  justice.  The  really  earnest  anti-slavery  men  and  women 
were  either  those  who  had  no  fellowship  with  the  churches, 
3 


34      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

and  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce  them  as  supporters  of  slavery, 
or  the  members  of  churches  who,  while  clinging  to  the  Bible, 
did  not  believe  that  all  its  teachings  were  divine  and  fitted 
for  the  civil  and  moral  government  of  nations  in  a  progress 
ive  civilization. 

It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that,  although  the  leading 
thought  of  the  North  was  greatly  agitated  on  this  question, 
the  mass  of  the  people  would  have  cared  little  about  slavery 
at  the  South  if  it  had  not  been  necessarily  aggressive,  and  they 
would  never  have  struck  a  blow,  or  permitted  a  blow  to  be 
struck,  for  its  abolition  on  moral  grounds  only.  It  was  not 
shaken  by  outside  pressure.  Its  death-knell  was  sounded  by 
the  first  gun  that  was  fired  upon  Fort  Sumter.  It  was  to 
have  been  the  corner-stone  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  but 
.fortunately  that  stone  was  never  laid.  It  was  destroyed  at 
enormous  cost  of  treasure  and  blood  ;  by  no  other  means  could 
it  have  been  destroyed. 

It  is  lamentable  that  the  only  door  of  escape  from  a  great 
and  aggressive  evil  should  have  been  a  civil  war,  but  this 
fact,  lamentable  as  it  is,  only  proves  what  the  history  of  the 
world  has  so  frequently  exhibited,  that  no  great  and  beneficial 
change  for  the  benefit  of  the  race  is  often  effected  except  by 
the  instrumentality  of  the  sword. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Departure  from  New  England — William  Emerson — New  York — Philadelphia 
— Baltimore — Wheeling — The  Ohio  River — Thomas  P.  Marshall — Eman 
cipation — Feeling  in  Favor  of  it  checked  by  the  Profits  of  Slavery — John 
Bright  and  the  Opium  Trade — Mr.  Adams — Mr.  Adams's  Speech  upon 
the  Right  of  Petition — Mr.  Marshall  in  Chicago — Cincinnati  in  1833 — 
Importance  of  Railroads  to  the  West — Alexander  Ewing — Cincinnati  as 
a  Manufacturing  City — Distribution  of  her  Manufactures — Her  High 
Character. 

IX  April,  1833,  I  started  for  the  great  and  (compared  \vith 
what  it  is  now)  unsettled  West,  by  railroad  from  Boston  to 
Providence,  thence  by  steamboat  to  New  York,  where  I 
remained  a  couple  of  days  to  see  something  of  what  was 
rapidly  becoming  the  great  commercial  city  of  the  Union. 
Here  I  renewed  my  acquaintance  with  William  Emerson, 
(brother  of  Ealph  Waldo),  who,  some  years  before,  had  been 
my  teacher  in  Kennebunk.  With  him  I  went  to  the  Battery, 
then  in  its  old-time  beauty,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  were 
the  fine  residences  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  city ;  to  the  City 
Hall,  which  still  remains  unchanged,  and  in  architectural 
design  has  not  been  surpassed  by  any  public  building  in  the 
country ;  to  St.  Paul's,  which  had  been  built  in  the  style  of 
the  Wren  churches  of  England,  and  was  regarded  by  many  as 
being  not  inferior  to  the  finest  of  them  in  symmetry  and  grace. 
The  long  row  of  dwelling-houses  in  what  was  then  upper  New 
York,  Lafayette  Place,  had  just  been  completed.  They  were 
the  show  houses  of  the  city  ;  I  was  taken  to  them  that  I  might 
see  what  elegant,  commodious  and  expensive  houses  the  New 
Yorkers  were  building.  My  visit  to  New  York  was  very 
agreeable — made  so  chiefly  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Emerson, 
who,  less  distinguished  than  his  brother  Ralph  Waldo,  possessed 


36      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

man}7  of  his  admirable  qualities,  with  simple  manners  and  ripe 
scholarship.  From  New  York  I  went  by  steamboat  to  Amboy, 
by  railroad  to  Bordentown,  and  from  Bordentown  to  Phila 
delphia,  by  steamboat.  The  only  thing  in  this  part  of  my 
journey  that  I  especially  recollect  was  the  beauty  of  the  Del 
aware.  The  journey  from  Philadelphia  to  Baltimore  was 
made  by  railroad  and  steamboat.  I  spent  but  a  single  day  in 
either  city,  but  long  enough  to  see  the  charming  parks  in  the 
former,  and  the  monuments — the  finest  I  had  ever  seen — in  the 
latter.  From  Baltimore  I  went  by  rail  to  Frederick  in  Mary 
land,  and  thence  by  stage-coach,  two  days  and  one  night,  over 
the  Cumberland  (National)  Road  to  Wheeling. 

The  Ohio  was  in  good  boating  condition,  and  the  journey 
down  the  river  was  charming.  It  then  deserved  the  reputation 
it  had,  of  being  one  of  the  most  beautiful  rivers  in  the  world. 
There  was  nothing  but  a  few  straggling  villages  to  mar  its 
original  beauty.  The  magnificent  forest  through  which  it 
flowed  had  been  quite  untouched  by  the  great  destroyer,  the 
woodman's  axe.  Its  banks  had  not  been  stripped  of  their 
beaut}*,  as  they  have  been  since  by  the  destruction  of  the  mag 
nificent  trees  that  covered  them,  and  disfigured  by  the  inroads 
which,  in  consequence  thereof,  the  waters  have  made  upon 
them.  For  miles  upon  miles  nothing  could  be  seen  but  the  sky 
and  the  river  and  the  grand  old  forest  through  which  it  ran. 
Occasionally  we  overtook  flat-boats  loaded  with  coal  or  lumber, 
or  met  a  high-pressure  stern-wheel  steamboat,  making  slow 
progress  against  the  stream.  There  was  little  else  than  these 
and  the  puffing  of  our  own  steamer  to  break  the  pervading 
solitude. 

On  my  way  down  the  river  I  read  with  great  interest  a 
number  of  letters,  just  published  in  pamphlet  form,  by  Thomas 
F.  Marshall,  in  advocacy  of  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  in 
Kentucky.  In  these  letters  the  slave  question  was  very  ably 
discussed.  The  injurious  effects  of  slavery  upon  the  industrial 
condition  of  the  State  were  illustrated  by  comparison  of  the 


GRADUAL    EMANCIPATION.  37 

rapid  growth  of  Ohio  on  the  one  side  of  the  river,  with  the 
slow  growth  of  Kentucky  on  the  other,  and  its  injustice  to  the 
slave,  and  its  depressing  influence  upon  enterprise,  were  pre 
sented  with  great  independence  and  force.  Many  other  Ken- 
tuckians,  like  Mr.  Marshall,  were  then  the  advocates  of  gradual 
emancipation,  and  it  seemed  for  a  time  that  the  sentiment  in 
this  direction  in  that  State  would  sweep  everything  before  it. 
For  a  short  time  only,  however,  did  this  sentiment  prevail.  It 
disappeared  in  Kentucky,  and  took  no  deep  hold  in  the  other 
border  States,  as  the  demand  for  slave  labor  increased  in  the 
cotton,  sugar  and  rice-producing  States,  and  the  raising  of 
slaves  became  more  profitable.  If  the  cotton-gin,  one  of  the 
most  valuable  of  labor-saving  machines,  had  not  been  invented, 
and  the  cultivation  of  rice  and  sugar  had  not  yielded  large 
returns,  slavery  might  years  ago  have  disappeared  in  the 
South,  as  it  had  in  the  North. 

The  extent  to  which  the  moral  sentiment  of  nations  is  sub 
jected  to  pecuniary  interest — the  heart  to  the  purse — is  a  sad 
evidence  of  human  perversity.  The  control  which  money 
exercises  over  principle  has  been  witnessed  in  other  nationg 
as  well  as  in  our  own.  I  will  name  but  a  single  instance. 
Great  Britain  is  the  most  civilized  of  nations.  Nowhere  else  is 
the  moral  standard  so  high ;  in  no  other  country  are  hospitals 
and  asylums  so  well  sustained  by  voluntary  contributions,  or 
life  and  property  so  thoroughly  protected  by  the  administration 
of  just  and  equal  laws,  and  yet  Great  Britain  is  guilty  of  the 
unparalleled  and  atrocious  crime  of  forcing  upon  China  the 
trade  and  use  of  opium,  merely  because  the  sale  of  it  to  the 
Chinese  yields  large  revenues  to  India.  The  eloquent  denun 
ciation  of  this  great  crime  against  humanity,  by  such  men  as 
John  Bright,  whose  opinions  and  feelings  are  not  governed  by 
lust  for  gain,  are  unheeded  by  the  Throne  and  Parliament. 
The  iniquitous  trade  is  going  on,  and  will  go  on  as  long  as 
revenue  can  be  derived  from  it,  and  there  is  force  to  perpetu 
ate  it. 


38      MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

But  to  return  to  Mr.  Marshall :  I  saw  him  twice — once  when 
he  was  in  the  meridian  of  his  intellectual  strength,  the  accom 
plished  and  magnetic  orator ;  and  again  when  he  had  fallen 
from  his  high  estate  to  be  the  slave  of  intemperance — an 
object  of  painful  commiseration.  A  few  days  after  the  unsuc 
cessful  effort  was  made  in  Congress  in  1842  to  pass  a  resolution 
of  censure  against  John  Quincy  Adams,  for  presenting  a  peti 
tion  from  citizens  of  Massachusetts  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  in  which  effort  Mr.  Marshall  took  a  leading  part,  I  hap 
pened  to  be  seated  with  some  Southern  members  of  Congress 
at  the  dinner  table  of  one  of  the  Washington  hotels,  when  Mr. 
Marshall.came  in.  It  seemed  that  Mr.  Adams  had  said  or  done 
something  that  day  which  had  irritated  these  gentlemen,  and 
as  Mr.  Marshall  was  taking  his  seat  at  the  table,  one  of  them 
exclaimed,  "  Well,  Marshall,  the  old  devil  has  been  at  work 
again  ;  you  must  take  him  in  hand."  "  Not  I,"  replied  Mr. 
Marshall,  with  a  decisive  shake  of  his  head ;  "  I  have  been 

gored  once  by  the  d d  old  bull,  and  have  had  enough  of 

him.  If  there  is  to  be  any  more  of  this  kind  of  work,  it  must 
be  undertaken  by  somebody  else.  The  old  devil,  as  you  call 
him,  is  a  match  for  a  score  of  such  fellows  as  you  and  I.'' 

Mr.  Adams's  speech  upon  the  right  of  petition  in  1837  was 
one  of  the  most  effective  and  triumphant  speeches  ever  made 
in  Congress.  The  great  speech  of  Mr.  Webster,  in  reply  to 
Hayne,  was  not  listened  to  with  more  interest.  Mr.  Adams 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that  this  country  has  pro 
duced,  and  in  no  respect  was  he  more  remarkable  than  in  the 
fact  that  he  became  a  great  offhand  speaker  after  he  had  left 
the  Presidency,  and  had  reached  the  period  in  life  after  which 
there  is  usually  a  decline  instead  of  improvement  in  intellectual 
vigor.  He  had,  some  time  before,  represented  his  State  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  his  district  in  the  House ;  in 
neither  of  which  was  he  a  very  prominent  member.  Soon 
after  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  President,  he  was  nomi 
nated  for  Congress  by  the  Anti-Masons,  whose  cause  he  had 


JOHX   QUIXCY   ADAMS.  39 

ardently  espoused,  and  was  elected.  As  it  is  very  difficult  for 
one  who  has  held  a  high  position,  and  filled  it  with  ability,  to 
sustain  his  reputation  in  a  lower  one,  and  as  he  had  given  no 
evidence  of  possessing  the  gift  of  oratory,  or  readiness  in 
debate,  his  friends  were  apprehensive  that  his  career  in  Con 
gress  would  be  anything  but  brilliant.  Their  apprehensions 
were  very  soon  dissipated.  He  proved  himself  to  be  a  vigor 
ous  and  ready  speaker,  perfectly  at  home  amid  the  rough-and- 
tumble  conflicts  of  the  House.  He  was  re-elected  eight  times, 
and  during  his  seventeen  years  of  continuous  service,  he  was, 
what  no  other  member  has  ever  been,  perfectly  independent. 
His  sympathies,  as  far  as  he  indicated  any,  were  on  the  side  of 
the  Democrats ;  but  he  incurred  the  bitter  hostility  of  those 
from  the  South  by  his  advocacy  of  the  right  of  all  men,  slaves 
as  well  as  free,  to  petition  Congress  for  the  redress  of  griev 
ances.  He  was  a  free  lance,  and  hard  hitter.  With  his  armor 
always  on,  he  was  never  unprepared  for  a  tilt  with  any  one 
who  was  bold  enough  to  enter  the  lists.  His  great  learning 
and  command  of  language  made  him  a  most  formidable  and 
dangerous  antagonist.  Pugnacious  by  temperament,  he  loved 
a  fight  better  than  he  loved  his  friends,  of  whom  there  were 
few,  and  with  none  was  he  ever  long  in  perfect  accord.  Before 
he  commenced  his  Congressional  career,  he  had  alienated 
from  himself  his  old  Federal  allies,  and  he  entered  into  no 
alliances  afterwards.  He  was  hated  as  few  public  men  have 
been,  but  his  great  ability,  perfect  independence,  and  thorough 
uprightness,  commanded  the  respect  even  of  those  who  hated 
him.  In  the  great  speech  to  which  I  have  referred,  he  achieved 
the  very  highest  reputation  as  a  debater  and  orator.  It  was  a 
speech  in  which  learning  and  argument  and  the  bitterest  satire 
were  so  combined  as  to  overwhelm  his  opponents,  and  secure 
for  himself  the  name  of  the  '"  Old  Man  Eloquent,"  which  he 
afterwards  retained.  He  died  with  his  harness  on  in  the  cham 
ber  in  which  he  had  been,  for  so  many  years,  the  commanding 
fiure. 


40      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Many  years  after  I  saw  Mr.  Marshall  in  Washington,  he 
was  pointed  out  to  me  in  the  Lake  House,  in  Chicago,  sitting 
upon  a  bench,  with  the  messenger  boys,  and  talking  to  them 
incoherently — a  mental  and  physical  wreck.  He  had  joined 
temperance  societies,  and  made  temperance  speeches  equal  to 
the  best  of  Gough's,  for,  like  Gough,  he  spoke  from  his  own 
experience.  His  description  of  the  terrible  next  morning  fol 
lowing  the  night's  debauch,  was  as  truthful  and  touching  as  it 
was  graphic.  For  months  together,  he  seemed  to  have  con 
quered  his  enemy — a  thirst  for  intoxicating  drink — but  its  hold 
had  become  too  strong  to  be  overcome.  He  resolved,  and 
re-resolved,  and  died  the  victim  of  alcohol.  I  have  known 
many  victims  of  intemperance,  but  none  who  have  fallen  from 
so  distinguished  a  position,  whose  ruin  was  so  lamentable  and 
complete. 

In  1833,  Cincinnati  was  the  great  city  of  the  West — the 
Queen  City  it  was  not  inaptly  called,  although  its  population 
did  not  exceed  thirty-five  thousand.  It  lay  between  the  river 
and  the  hills,  which  were  covered  with  noble  trees  and 
carpeted  with  a  sod  of  as  deep  a  green  as  the  finest  of  the  old 
lawns  of  England.  In  1880,  it  had  a  population  of  255,139. 
It  has  extended  its  borders  up  and  down  the  river  and  over  the 
hills,  but  it  is  less  beautiful  now  than  it  was  fifty  years  ago. 

I  had  letters  of  introduction  from  Rev.  John  Pierpont  to 
William  Starr,  and  William  Green,  two  of  the  foremost  men 
of  the  city,  which  gave  to  me  access  to  the  best  of  its  society. 
This  society  was  largely  composed  of  New  England  people, 
and  the  New  England  influence  prevailed  to  such  an  extent, 
that  Cincinnati  seemed  like  a  second  edition  of  Boston.  It 
was  not  then  what  it  has  since  become,  a  manufacturing  city. 
There  were  in  its  population  very  few  foreigners,  and  if  there 
were  any  Catholics,  who  have  since  become  so  numerous,  they 
were  so  obscure  as  to  be  quite  unknown  to  the  citizens  gener 
ally.  It  was  a  commercial  city,  situated  in  the  very  heart  of 
a  very  fertile  country,  with  a  commanding  position  upon  the 

* 


OUTLET   FOR   PRODUCTS.  41 

Ohio.  It  was,  even  then,  the  centre  of  a  large  and  rapidly 
increasing  trade. 

The  great  market  for  the  surplus  productions  of  the  Missis 
sippi  Valley  was  New  Orleans,  and  it  was  only  by  the  rivers 
that  this  market  could  be  reached.  All  of  these  surplus  pro 
ductions  were  taken  to  it  by  flat-boats  or  barges  and  steam 
boats,  chiefly  the  former,  and  thence  shipped  by  sailing 
vessels  to  the  Eastern  States  or  to  European  ports.  New 
Orleans  was  then  so  unhealthy  that  very  fe\v  persons  who 
had  not  been  acclimated  ventured  to  remain  there  from  July 
to  November,  and  it  had  no  conveniences  for  handling  goods ; 
but  notwithstanding  these  serious  drawbacks,  in  very  few  cities 
of  the  world  was  so  large  a  trade  carried  on,  and  none  sur 
passed  it  in  prosperity,  until  railroads  became  active  and  suc 
cessful  competitors  with  rivers. 

Nothing  shows  more  clearlv  the  changes  that  have  taken 

O  «/ 

place  in  what  was  then  the  West,  than  the  fact  that  for  many 
years  after  I  went  to  Indiana,  the  sole  dependence  of  the 
farmers  of  nearly  all  of  the  West  for  sending  their  agricultural 
products  to  market,  and  obtaining  supplies  of  goods  in  return, 
was  upon  streams  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  Missouri  and  the  Ohio,  were  navigable,  even  in  favorable 
seasons,  only  for  the  smallest  craft,  during  one  or  two  months 
in  a  year.  In  those  days  settlements  were  mainly  confined 
to  the  borders  of  the  rivers,  and  it  sometimes  happened  that 
the  small  ones  were  so  low  the  year  round,  that  even  flat- 
boats  could  not  be  floated  upon  them.  The  June  freshet  was, 
however,  confidently  expected  ;  and  this  expectation  was  usu 
ally  realized.  In  anticipation  of  it,  the  flat-boats  at  the  ship 
ping  points  were  loaded  in  advance  and  made  ready  for  it 
when  it  came.  I  recollect  that  in  1835  the  rise  of  the  upper 
Wabash  was  so  much  later  than  usual  that  some  of  the  owners 
of  the  flat-boats  became  discouraged,  and  sold  the  corn  with 
which  they  were  laden  at  six  cents  a  bushel.  But  the  river 
did  not  fail.  The  rain  fell,  the  waters  rose,  and  in  a  few  days 


42      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  purchasers  of  the  corn  were  richly  compensated  for  what 
they  called  their  "  trust  in  Providence." 

It  is  to  railroads,  which  now  penetrate  all  sections  of  the 
"Western  States,  that  the  enormous  growth  of  these  States  in 
population  and  wealth  is  mainly  attributable.  Without  them 
they  would  have  remained  pretty  much  what  they  were  (except 
in  the  vicinity  of  rivers  and  the  lakes)  half  a  century  ago — a 
magnificent  wilderness.  The  construction  of  the  Illinois  Cen 
tral  Railroad  first  opened  for  settlement  the  fertile  prairie  sec 
tion  of  Illinois.  I  recollect  the  time  when  no  one  thought  of 
living  on  the  grand  prairie,  away  from  the  timber  land  which 
frino-ed  it :  when  one  who  had  crossed  on  horseback  this  tree- 

O 

less  and  trackless  region  was  regarded  as  having  made  a  diffi 
cult  and  venturesome  journey. 

A  country,  no  matter  how  fertile,  must  be  of  little  value 
without  markets  for  its  productions ;  and  but  for  railroads, 
there  would  have  been  no  accessible  markets  for  a  region  large 
enough  and  rapidly  becoming  populous  enough  to  cast  into 
the  shade  any  of  the  European  States,  except  Russia.  Chicago, 
the  central  citv,  which  excites  the  admiration  of  all  visitors, 
and  whose  praises  are  constantly  in  the  mouths  of  its  enter 
prising  citizens,  would  have  been  to  this  day  an  insignificant 
town  if  its  avenues  of  trade  had  been  confined  to  the  lakes 
and  to  the  Erie  Canal.  Railroads  have  not  only  opened  vast 
regions  for  settlement,  but  they  have  been  the  great  distrib 
uters  of  wealth.  They  have  made  lands  hundreds  of  miles 
away  from  water  courses  as  valuable  as  those  in  their  neigh 
borhood.  They  have  stripped  some  cities  and  towns  of  their 
commercial  importance,  but  they  have  opened  the  way  for 
millions  of  industrious  people  into  regions  which,  without 
them,  the  axe  and  plough  would  not  have  touched. 

I  have  spoken  of  Cincinnati  as  having  been  a  commercial 
city.  It  is  still  such,  but  not  exclusively  or  mainly.  I  had 
been  for  many  years  a  visitor  to  the  city  on  business  before  I 
understood  that  its  rapid  growth  had  not  been  owing  alone  to 


CINCINNATI   AS   A    MANUFACTURING    CITY.  43 

its  agricultural  and  commerical  advantages.  Some  forty  years 
ago,  however,  I  happened  while  there  to  meet  Mr.  Alex 
ander  Evving,  one  of  the  prominent  citizens,  and  the  conver 
sation  between  us  turned  to  the  subject  of  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  city.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation  I  remarked  that 
one  ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  its  growth,  when  one  con 
sidered  the  advantages  it  enjoyed  in  having  so  fertile  a  country 
around  it,  and  the  markets  which  were  opened  to  its  trade  by 
the  river.  "  It  is  true,"  he  replied,  "  that  Cincinnati  is  fortu 
nate  in  this  respect,  but  it  is  not  these  advantages,  but  its  manu 
factures,  which  are  sending  it  ahead  so  rapidly."  "  Manufac 
tures  ? "  said  I.  "  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  Cincinnati  is  a 
manufacturing  city  ? "  "  Yes,  I  do  mean  just  that,"  he  replied. 
"Manufacturing  is  doing  more  to  build  up  Cincinnati  than 
everything  else.  Get  into  my  carriage  with  me,  and  I  will 
satisfy  you  that  what  I  say  is  true."  To  me  a  city  without 
water-power  and  large  factories,  and  yet  a  manufacturing  city, 
was  an  anomaly. 

We  spent  some  hours  in  driving  about  the  city,  and  in 
every  part,  except  where  were  the  residences  of  the  wealthy 
people,  we  found  hives  of  manufacturing  industry.  Here  were 
shops  where  iron-workers  were  employed.  Further  on  were 
the  shops  of  wagon  and  carriage  makers  ;  beyond  or  alongside 
of  them,  extensive  furniture  factories.  In  fact  the  whole  lower 
part  of  the  city  seemed  to  be  filled  with  buildings  of  plain 
exterior,  which,  upon  entering,  we  found  to  be  alive  with 
runn:ng  wheels  and  active  and  skilful  hands,  turning  out  all 
kinds  of  articles,  for  which  there  was  a  constantly  increasing 
demand  in  the  new  country.  "  In  these  shops,"  said  Mr. 
Ewing,  "  small  and  insignificant  as  they  seem  to  be,  goods 
which  are  worth  millions  upon  millions  of  dollars  are  annually 
manufactured.  There  is  scarcely  anything  that  farmers  need 
for  their  farms  or  their  homes  which  is  not  made  in  this  city, 
which  you  have  supposed  to  be  commercial  only.  Not  only  is 
Cincinnati  doing  much  to  supply  what  we  call  the  home 


44      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

demand,  but  large  quantities  of  her  manufactures  are  being 
sent  by  the  way  of  New  Orleans  to  foreign  countries.  Trade 
and  commerce  pay  well ;  farming  pays,  and  you  know,''  he 
said  significantly,  "  that  banking  pays,  but  nothing  gives  so 
larire  returns  as  the  conversion  of  raw  materials  into  finished 

o 

goods.  Now,"  said  he,  "  let  us  go  to  the  levee  and  see  where 
the  goods  that  these  workshops  produce  are  going." 

This  was  in  May,  and  the  river  was  full,  but  not  overflow 
ing-.  The  levee  was  lined  with  barges,  from  which  coal  from 

O  o        * 

Pittsburgh  was  being  unloaded,  and  with  steamboats,  some  of 
which  had  just  come  up  from  New  Orleans  deeply  laden  with 
sugar,  molasses  and  coffee ;  while  others,  and  the  larger  part, 
were  taking  on  board  Cincinnati  manufactures  of  all  descrip 
tions.  Some  were  bound  for  New  Orleans  and  St.  Louis ; 
some  for  the  towns  upon  the  upper  Mississippi  and  Missouri ; 
some  for  points  on  the  various  tributaries  of  these  great  rivers. 
"  Now,"  said  Mr.  Ewing,  "  let  us  go  back  to  the  hotel,  and  see 
where  the  places  are  to  which  these  steamers  are  bound,  what 
markets  we  have  for  our  manufactures,  what  a  nice  little 
country  we  have  out  here  west  of  the  Alleghanies."'  So  with 
the  map  before  us  we  traced  the  rivers  which  these  steam 
boats  were  to  travel,  the  Mississippi  from  the  Gulf  up  to  Fort 
Snelling,  the  Missouri  I  cannot  tell  how  far,  the  Ohio  up  to 
Pittsburgh  and  down  to  the  "  Father  of  Waters,"  the  "Wabash 
to  Lafayette,  Indiana,  the  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  as  far  as 
they  were  navigable,  etc.,  etc.  What  an  extent  of  country 
was  drained  by  these  streams  !  Since  then  what  an  empire  it 
has  become!  What  is  to  be  its  future,  with  its  swarming 
millions  of  people  of  nationalities  so  diverse,  who  is  bold 
enough  to  predict  ? 

Of  the  superior  commercial  advantages  that  Cincinnati 
possessed  for  many  years,  railroads  have  in  a  large  degree 
deprived  her  ;  but  she  is  still  a  great,  thriving  and  prosperous 
city,  of  such  solid  wealth,  that  she  feels  the  effect  of  financial 
trouble  as  little  as  any  other  city  of  the  Union.  She  was  for- 


CHARACTER   OF    CINCINNATI   TO-DAY.  45 

Innate  in  the  character  of  her  early  inhabitants.  They  were 
not  only  men  of  enterprise,  but  men  of  rare  intelligence,  liber 
ality  and  taste.  The  impress  they  made  upon  her  remains  to 
this  day.  She  has  been  largely  outstripped  by  Chicago,  and 
to  some  extent  by  St.  Louis,  in  business  and  population,  but 
she  surpasses  both  and  is  equalled  only  by  one  of  the  Eastern 
cities,  in  the  munificence  of  her  wealthy  citizens,  and  the  prog 
ress  she  has  made  in  the  cultivation  of  art.  Cincinnati  is 
still  a  great  manufacturing  city.  Before  the  Western  States 
were  penetrated  by  railroads,  her  interior  position,  and  the 
cost  of  transportation  from  the  seaboard,  were  a  sufficient 
protection  to  her  manufactures.  Since  then,  and  especially 
since  1862,  her  manufactures  have  been  stimulated  in  common 
with  those  of  other  cities,  by  our  protective  tariffs. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Madison,  Indiana — Jeremiah  Sullivan — Algernon  S.  Sullivan — License  to 
practise  Law — Charles  Dewey — Isaac  Houck — Isaac  Blackford — Black- 
ford's  Reports — Prominent  Young  Men  in  Indiana  in  18D6 — Joseph  Or. 
Marshall — Caleb  B.  Smith — Richard  W.  Thompson — Henry  S.  Lane — 
Edward  A.  Hannegan — Samuel  Parker — Horace  P.  Biddle — George  G. 
Dunn — William  McKee  Dunn — Lucy  Stone — Samuel  Judali — District- 
Attorney  Howard — George  H.  Proffit — John  B.  Howe — John  B.  Niles — 
The  Harrison  Campaign — Condition  of  the  Country — Low  Prices,  and  the 
Causes — Removal  of  the  Government  Deposits  by  General  Jackson — Presi 
dent  Van  Buren — Creation  of  State  Banks — Sneers  at  General  Harrison 
— Log  Cabin  and  Hard  Cider  Campaign—  Singing  effective  in  Politics 
and  Religion — Scene  at  a  Church  in  Cincinnati — Failure  of  Harrison's 
Election  to  bring  Relief  to  the  Country — Usual  Causes  of  Financial 
Troubles  in  the  United  States — The  Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  United 
States — The  Specie  Circular — Disastrous  Effects  of  the  Failure  of  the 
Pennsylvania  United  States  Bank — The  Pet  Banks — The  Bank  of  Michi 
gan — Depression  in  Prices  of  Leading  Articles. 

WHEN  I  left  New  England,  I  had  no  definite  notion  as  to 
which  of  the  Western  States  I  should  go,  but  as  I  had 
a  cousin,  the  only  person  I  knew  west  of  the  mountains,  living 
in  Alton,  Illinois,  I  should  probably  have  gone  there  if  I  had 
not  met  at  Cincinnati  Mr.  E.  M.  Huntington  (some  years  after 
a  United  States  circuit  judge),  who  thought  so  highly  of  the 
prospects  of  Indiana,  of  which  State  he  had  recently  become  a 
citizen,  and  advised  so  strongly  that  I  should  see  something  of 
it  before  I  went  further,  that  I  concluded  to  stop  for  awhile, 
at  least,  in  Madison,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  thriving  of 
the  Indiana  towns.  I  had  a  favorable  letter  of  recommenda 
tion  from  Mr.  Webster,  which  I  exhibited  to  Jeremiah  Sulli 
van,  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  State,  with  the  request 
that  I  might  be  permitted  to  spend  some  time  in  his  office,  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  laws  of  the  State  and  learn  some- 


MADISON,    INDIANA.  47 

thing  of  Western  practice.  My  request  was  readily  granted, 
and  I  spent  four  or  five  weeks  very  pleasantly  in  Madison, 
devoting  six  hours  to  study,  and  spending  the  rest  of  the  day 
in  roaming  over  the  picturesque  hills  which  surround  the  city, 
and  about  the  adjoining  country,  which  was  then  being  rapidly 
settled,  chiefly  by  farmers  from  Kentucky. 

Mr.  Sullivan  was  a  high-toned,  talented  Virginian,  who 
placed  me  under  great  obligations  by  his  kindness  and  advice. 
He  was  afterwards  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  he  filled  that  high  position  with  eminent  uprightness  and 
ability.  A  year  before  I  met  him,  he  had,  as  one  of  the  Fund 
Commissioners  of  the  State,  visited  Boston  on  official  business. 
He  said  to  me  one  day  that  he  had  gone  there  with  Virginia 
prejudices  against  the  New  England  people,  but  that  this 
prejudice  speedily  gave  way  in  the  social  atmosphere  of  Bos 
ton.  He  expected  to  meet  people  exclusive  and  repellent, 
devoted  to  making  money  and  wanting  in  hospitality.  On  the 
contrary,  he  found  them  warm-hearted,  cordial,  and,  while 
wide  awake  to  their  own  interests,  genial  and  hospitable.  It 
so  happened  that  he  was  in  Boston  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  and 
witnessed  an  old-fashioned  Boston  celebration  of  that  day. 
He  saw  the  usual  procession,  and  listened  to  a  patriotic  address 
in  the  cradle  of  liberty,  Faneuil  Hall.  "  Never,"  said  he,  "  had 
I  beheld  such  a  hearty  demonstration  of  patriotic  sentiment. 
I  am,"  he  continued,  "a  Virginian,  root  and  branch,  but  I 
could  not  help  feeling  that  if  the  liberties  of  the  country  were 
ever  lost,  their  last  resting  place  would  be  in  New  England."1 
One  of  Mr.  Sullivan's  sons,  Algernon  S.,  a  lawyer  in  New 
York,  recently  deceased,  resembled  his  father  strikingly  in 
appearance  and  held  a  high  rank  in  his  profession. 

I  had  not  been  admitted  to  the  bar  when  I  left  New  Eng 
land,  and  in  order  to  practice  law  in  the  Circuit  Courts  of 
Indiana  (for  I  had  not  been  long  in  Madison  before  I  had 
determined  not  to  go  any  further  west),  it  was  necessary 
that  I  should  pass  an  examination  by  two  circuit  judges  and 


48  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

receive  from  them  a  license.  I  was  examined  by  Judge 
Eggleston  in  Madison,  and  then  went  to  Salem,  some  thirty 
miles  distant,  where  the  judge  of  another  circuit  was  holding 
court.  There  my  license  was  perfected,  and  there  I  became 
acquainted  with  Charles  Dewey  and  Isaac  Houck,  who,  with 
Mr.  Sullivan,  were  the  famous  legal  trio  of  Southern  Indiana. 
Dewey  and  Ilouck  were  Kew  England  men.  Houck  died  before 
his  ability  had  been  fully  developed  (I  attended  his  funeral  a 
few  weeks  after  in  Indianapolis),  but  young  although  he  was, 
he  exhibited  legal  talents  which  only  required  a  longer  life 
and  a  wider  field  for  their  display  to  have  secured  for  him 
high  rank  in  his  profession. 

Dewey  was  subsequently  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  an  associate  of  Mr.  Sullivan's.  The  head  of  that 
court  for  many  years  was  Isaac  Blackford.  I  am  quite  sure 
that  three  abler  judges  than  Blackford,  Dewey,  and  Sullivan 
could  not  have  been  found  in  any  court  in  the  United  States. 
Biackford's  reports  are  acknowledged  authority  in  all  courts  of 
the  Union.  They  receive  by  all  judges  the  most  respectful 
consideration  to  this  day.  Dewey  would  have  been  an  orna 
ment  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  when  Mar 
shall  was  its  chief  justice.  Although  his  mind  was  eminently 
judicial,  he  was  reputed  to  be  a  captivating  speaker.  He  rarely 
spoke  at  political  meetings,  however,  and  I  never  heard  him 
except  at  the  funeral  of  his  friend  Ilouck.  His  remarks  on  this 
painful  occasion  exhibited  a  command  of  choice  language  which 
few  men  possess.  In  personal  appearance  he  was  like  Mr. 
Webster.  He  had  the  same  swarthy  complexion,  broad  fore 
head,  deep-set  eyes  and  brawny  figure.  Mentally  and  phy 
sically  he  resembled  Mr.  Webster  more  than  any  one  I  ever 
met. 

A  few  years  after,  there  came  to  the  front  in  Indiana  a 
number  of  young  men  whose  equals  as  speakers  and  in  intellect 
are  rarely  found  anywhere.  Conspicuous  among  them  were 
Joseph  G.  Marshall,  Caleb  B.  Smith,  Richard  W.  Thomp- 


JOSEPH   G.    MARSHALL   AND    OTHERS.  49 

son,  Henry  S.  Lane,  Edward  A.  Hannegan,  Samuel  Par 
ker,  Horace  P.  Biddle,  and,  a  little  later,  George  G.  and 
William  McKee  Dunn. 

Marshall  was  in  public  life  only  as  a  member  of  the  Indiana 
Legislature,  in  which  he  had  no  equal  as  a  clear,  concise  and 
forcible  speaker.  His  arguments  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  were  listened  to  by  the  judges  with  the  utmost  respect. 
Before  a  jury  in  important  cases  he  was  singularly  effective. 
I  became  acquainted  witli  him  a  few  days  after  I  reached 
Madison,  and  my  admiration  of  his  ability  increased  with  my 
acquaintance.  He  was  the  strongest  man  of  his  years  that  I 
had  known.  He  died  young,  at  the  commencement  of  what 
promised  to  be  a  brilliant  career.  Smith  was  one  of  the  best 
off-hand  speakers  of  the  State.  He  had  a  wonderful  com 
mand  of  language  and  a  clear,  ringing  voice  which  was  none 
the  less  pleasant  by  reason  of  a  lisp,  which  he  did  not  care 
to  overcome.  An  earnest,  enthusiastic  Whig,  he  was  always 
ready,  although  apparently  unprepared,  to  advocate  and  defend 
the  principles  of  his  party.  He  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  he  lacked  industry  and  execu 
tive  ability,  and  in  that  position  he  failed  to  meet  the  expec 
tations  of  his  friends.  Thompson  was  a  model  of  graceful 
oratory.  His  voice  was  sonorous,  his  periods  rounded  and 
perfect.  He  lacked  conciseness,  but  his  hearers  were  never 
wearied  by  his  speeches,  long  as  they  usually  were.  He 
represented  his  district  in  Congress  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  won  there  an  enviable  reputation.  He  was  appointed 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  under  Mr.  Hayes,  which  office,  after 
holding  it  for  a  couple  of  years,  he  resigned  to  become  presi 
dent  of  the  Panama  Railroad  Company. 

Lane  did  not  take  high  rank  as  a  lawyer,  but  as  a  popular 
and  effective  stump  speaker  he  was  not  equalled  by  any  man  in 
the  State.  The  meetings  at  which  he  spoke  were  always 
lively.  His  speeches  would  not  have  "borne  reporting"  like 
those  of  Thompson,  but  in  passing  by  a  building  in  which 
4 


50      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

he  was  speaking  one  could  always  tell  who  was  the  orator  by 
the  almost  continuous  shouts  which  he  never  failed  to  call 
forth.  In  the  United  States  Senate,  of  which  he  was  a  mem 
ber  for  one  term,  he  did  not  take  high  rank.  He  always 
spoke  well,  but  his  style  was  better  fitted  for  popular  assem 
blies  than  the  Senate.  ~No  purer  or  more  honorable  man  ever 
lived,  Hannegan  was  also  a  United  States  Senator  for  six 
years.  He  had  previously  represented  his  district  in  the 
House.  He  was  a  natural  orator,  who  could  speak  better  than 
he  could  write.  The  seats  in  the  Senate  were  never  empty, 
and  the  galleries  were  always  full  when  he  was  the  speaker. 
Had  he  been  temperate  and  industrious,  he  would  have  been 
one  of  the  most  prominent  and  useful  men  of  his  day.  Parker 
was  not  an  orator,  but  he  was  a  keen  and  ready  debater. 
To  come  off  unscathed  in  a  discussion  with  Parker,  an  oppo 
nent  had  to  be  thoroughly  armed  and  equipped.  If  there  was 
a  weak  place  in  his  armor,  Parker  was  sure  to  hit  it.  Biddle 
was  a  better  scholar  than  any  of  his  compeers,  and  an  admira 
ble  story-teller,  an  excellent  mimic  and  a  wit.  I  have  laughed 
more  in  listening  to  Biddle's  political  speeches  than  at  those 
of  any  one  I  ever  heard.  He  was  withal  a  good  lawyer.  As 
one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Indiana  Supreme  Court  he  deservedly 
stood  high. 

George  G.  Dunn,  like  Mr.  Marshall,  died  young.  He  was 
an  able  lawyer,  fluent  in  speech,  skilful  in  debate.  Of  invective 
he  was  a  master.  His  command  of  vituperative  language  was 
extraordinary,  but  there  was  nothing  low  or  coarse  in  his 

«/  /  o 

vituperation.  He  served  two  terms  in  Congress,  and,  young 
although  he  was,  he  won  before  the  end  of  the  first  session  of 
the  first  term  a  reputation  that  the  oldest  and  ablest  members 
might  have  been  proud  of.  One  of  the  Representatives  from 
Maryland,  himself  a  man  of  mark,  said  to  an  Indiana  friend  of 
mine  :  "  Your  Mr.  Dunn  is  one  of  the  ablest  men,  if  not  the 
ablest  man,  in  Congress."  "William  McKee  Dunn  made  him 
self  known  in  the  convention  by  \vhich  the  Constitution  of  the 


WILLIAM    MCKEE   DUNN   AND    LUCY    STONE.  51 

State  was  amended.  In  this  convention,  although  one  of  the 
youngest  of  the  members,  he  was  distinguished  by  his  legal 
knowledge,  sound  judgment  and  readiness  in  debate.  The 
reputation  which  he  had  acquired  in  this  convention  he  main 
tained,  and  more  than  maintained,  as  a  member  of  the  Thirty- 
sixth  and  Thirty-seventh  Congress.  In  1864  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Judge  Advocate  in  the  War  Department,  which 
office  he  held  until  he  succeeded  Judge  Holt  as  Judge  Advo 
cate  General,  filling  this  position  with  marked  abilitv  until 
January,  1881,  when,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  service,  he 
was  retired  by  President  Hayes,  to  make  place  for  Major  D. 
G.  Swaim.  Mr.  Dunn  was  an  ardent  Whig,  and  an  earnest, 
uncompromising  Republican.  His  recent  death  was  deeplv 
lamented  by  all  who  knew  him. 

And  here  I  cannot  forbear  to  say  a  few  words  about  Lucv 
Stone,  the  only  woman  that  1  heard  speak  upon  a  platform  in 
the  West,  after  hearing  whom  I  was  in  accord  with  Wen 
dell  Phillips  in  the  opinion  he  expressed,  that  not  only  should 
women  be  allowed  to  speak  in  public,  but  if  there  were  many 
like  her,  they  should  be  the  only  speakers.  She  delivered  two 
lectures  in  a  good-sized  hall  in  Fort  Wayne  in  advocacy  of  the 
rights  of  women.  My  seat  at  the  first  lecture  was  near  the 
platform,  to  which  fact  I  attributed  my  ability  to  hear  her 
distinctly,  for  she  spoke  in  what  seemed  to  be  a  low,  conversa 
tional  tone.  At  the  next  lecture  I  sat  on  the  bench  that  was 
farthest  from  the  platform,  and  although  she  spoke  in  the 
same  low  tone,  I  heard  every  word  as  distinctly  as  I  did  on 
the  previous  evening  when  I  was  not  more  than  six  feet  from 
her.  I  had  heard  many  men  with  lusty  lungs  and  clear  voices 
speak  in  the  same  hall,  and  I  knew  how  much  effort  was 
required  by  them  to  make  themselves  heard.  And  yet  here 
was  a  small  young  woman  whose  sweet,  silvery  tones  reached 
every  ear  in  a  crowded  hall  as  if  they  had  been  trumpet- 
tongued.  She  spoke  without  notes  and  with  great  earnest 
ness  and  feeling,  but  there  was  no  straining  for  effect,  nothing 


52      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

like  mere  declamation,  in  her  manner  of  speaking.  Her  aim 
was  to  show  in  what  respects  women  had  been  unfairly  dealt 
with,  and  to  define  the  natural  rights  of  which  they  had 
been  deprived  or  prevented  from  enjoying  by  law  or  public 
opinion.  And  this  she  accomplished  with  so  much  clearness 
and  force  that  there  were  few  in  the  large  audiences  who  were 
not  in  sympathy  with  her.  The  only  time  she  became  excited 
was  in  her  second  lecture,  when  she  repelled  the  assaults  that 
had  been  made  upon  herself  and  others  for  what  they  were 
publicly  doing  in  behalf  of  their  sex. 

There  was  need  at  that  time  of  just  such  hearty  and  effec 
tive  workers  as  Lucy  Stone  and  her  co-laborers  in  the  cause  of 
woman,  and  their  labors  were  not  in  vain.  They  gave  to  the 
public  sentiment  a  direction  which  resulted  in  very  important 
changes  in  the  laws  of  most,  if  not  of  all  the  States,  such 
changes,  for  instance,  as  those  which  secured  to  women  rights 
to  property.  In  Indiana  and  in  many  other  States  before 
this  movement  was  commenced,  the  dower  of  widows  whose 
husbands  had  died  without  providing  for  them  by  will  was 
one-third  part  of  the  rents  and  profits  for  life  of  the  lands  of 
which  their  husbands  were  the  owners,  and  these  lands  in  a 
new  country  were  often  unimproved.  I  knew  many  instances 
in  which  the  widows  of  men  who  were  extensive  land-owners 
were  left  without  any  means  of  support.  These  and  other 
unjust  laws  have  been  radically  changed,  and  women  in  In 
diana  now  have  equal  rights  with  men  in  regard  to  property, 
and  in  many  other  respects  are  made  their  equals.  These 
important  and  rightful  changes  in  the  legal  rights  of  women 
were  largely  owing  to  the  labors  of  Lucy  Stone  and  others  of 
her  class. 

If  I  had  not  given  so  much  space  to  the  gentlemen  I  have 
named  whom  I  knew  personally  and  well,  I  would  speak  of 
Samuel  Judah,  the  best-read  man  in  the  State,  and  one  of  her 
ablest  lawyers ;  District- Attorney  Howard,  an  able  lawyer  and 
a  man  of  the  purest  character ;  George  II.  Promt,  who  ranked 


SAMUEL   JUDAH   AND   OTHERS.  53 

among  the  most  distinguished  stump  speakers;  Andrew  Ken 
nedy,  who  was  then  just  beginning  to  exhibit  talents  which 
would  have  made  him  a  leader  of  the  Indiana  .Democracy,  had 
not  his  career  been  cut  short  by  untimely  death;  John  B. 
Howe  and  John  B.  Niles,  who  were  not  active  in  politics,  but 
who  stood  high  in  the  legal  profession.  Niles  having  become 
disgusted  with  Calvinism,  became  a  Swedenborgian.  In  his 
estimation  Emmanuel  Swedenborg  wa"s  the  wisest  man  that 
ever  lived  :  a  prophet,  and  more  than  a  prophet. 

In  the  Indiana  Harrison  campaign  of  1840,  Thompson, 
Smith  and  Lane  were  the  most  prominent  speakers  on  the 
AVhig  side ;  Hannegan  and  Kennedy  on  the  Democratic.  In 
that  campaign  public  feeling  was  altogether  with  the  Whigs. 
The  financial  crisis  of  1837  was  followed  by  a  long  period  of 
severe  depression,  during  which  business  of  all  kinds  was  pretty 
nearly  dried  up.  In  the  flush  times  of  1835  and  1830  almost 
everybody  in  all  the  States  had  run  heedlessly  into  debt,  and 
in  most  States  when  the  crisis  came  relief  was  sought  in  stay 
and  appraisement  laws  which  completed  in  those  States  the 
general  stagnation.  There  were  more  unemployed  people  in 
the  United  States  than  ever  before,  and,  as  is  generally  the 
case  in  times  of  financial  trouble,  the  masses  were  disposed  to 
attribute  their  misfortunes  to  other  causes  than  the  true  ones. 
The  true  causes  were,  inflation  of  the  currency,  injudicious 
extension  of  credit,  and  widespread  speculation.  In  the  esti 
mation  of  the  masses,  however,  the  main  cause  was  bad  admin 
istration  of  the  Federal  Government.  There  was  really  noth 
ing  especially  objectionable  in  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren.  The  financial  crisis  came  when  he  was  President,  but 
he  was  not  responsible  for  it.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  far  above 
the  average  of  our  Presidents  as  a  statesman,  with  a  character 
above  reproach.  He  was  unfortunate  in  being  President  in  a 
time  of  great  disaster.  Had  prosperity  prevailed,  his  admin 
istration  would  have  been  endorsed  by  his  reelection.  His 
defeat  was  not  a  triumph  of  Whig  over  Democratic  principles 


54      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

(there  was  no  principle  involved  in  the  canvass) ;  it  was  the 
result  of  hard  times. 

To  a  calm  observer,  if  there  could  have  been  one  in  the 
United  States  at  the  time,  the  Harrison  campaign  would  have 
been  extremely  amusing.  When  General  Harrison,  who  was 
styled  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  by  having  distinguished  himself 
on  that  battle-field,  was  nominated,  a  foolish  article  appeared 
in  some  Eastern  newspaper,  in  which  he  was  spoken  of  con 
temptuously  as  a  man  who  should  go  back  to  his  log-cabin  and 
be  content  with  his  usual  beverage,  hard  cider.  This  was 
regarded  as  a  proclamation  by  the  aristocratic  classes,  that  no 
man  who  did  not  live  in  a  fine  house  and  could  not  afford  to 
drink  wine  was  to  be  elected  President ;  and  by  general  con 
sent  the  Log  Cabin  and  Hard  Cider  became  emblems  of  the 
Whig  party.  There  was  great  demand  for  cider,  and  cabins 
made  of  rough  poles  were  the  most  prominent  objects  in  Whig 
processions.  In  addition  to  speech-making  and  log-cabin  pro 
cessions,  singing  came  into  requisition.  The  most  popular  of 
the  songs  was  one  which  referred  to  Mr.  Yan  Buren  as  being 
a  used-up  man,  and  which  could  with  a  few  changes  be 
extended  indefinitely.  I  recollect  but  a  single  verse  of  the 
song,  which  was  always  sung  with  great  enthusiasm.  The 
triumphant  victory  of  the  Whigs  in  the  State  election  in 
Maine  was  the  first  in  the  contest : 

"Oh,  have  you  heard  the  news  from  Maine, 

Maine,  Maine,  all  honest  and  true  ? 
Seventeen  thousand  is  the  tune 

For  Tippecuuoe  and  Tyler  too, 

For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van, 
Van,  Van  is  a  used-up  man, 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van." 

Nothing  could  be  more  absurd  than  such  songs,  but  almost 
every  Whig  joined  in  singing  them,  and,  though  absurd,  they 
served  to  enliven  and  give  spirit  to  the  campaign.  They  did 


HARRISON    CAMPAIGN    SONGS.  55 

as  much  as  speaking  or  the  processions  for  the  election  of 
Harrison. 

Singing  has  played  an  important  part  in  creating  religious 
as  well  as  political  feeling.  In  the  early  days  of  Methodism 
in  the  United  States  singing  constituted  a  large  and  effective 
part  of  its  exercises.  To  sing  well  was  an  indispensable  quali 
fication  for  the  ministry.  It  made  up  for  deficiencies  in  other 
respects.  When  I  was  a  boy  there  was  a  Methodist  circuit 
rider  in  the  circuit  in  which  I  lived,  who  excelled,  as  Sankey 
does,  in  singing,  and  the  boys,  of  whom  I  was  one,  always 
hailed  his  coming  to  Kennebunk  with  the  greatest  delight. 
One  of  his  hymns  which  he  sung  with  great  spirit,  and  which 
was  a  favorite  with  all  of  us,  although  the  subject  was  far 
from  being  a  pleasant  one,  was  descriptive  of  the  last  judg 
ment.  One  of  the  stanzas  ran  thus : 

"The  chariot,  the  chariot!  its  wheels  roll  on  fire, 
As  the  Lord  cometh  down  in  the  pomp  of  His  ire. 
Lo!  self-moving  it  drives  on  its  pathway  of  cloud, 
And  the  heavens  with  the  glory  of  Godhead  are  bowed." 

It  so  happened  that  I  was  in  Cincinnati  when  there  was  a 
great  revival  in  one  of  the  Methodist  churches.  Upon  going 
out  of  the  hotel  one  evening  I  perceived  that  a  crowd  was 
flowing  towards  this  church,  and  I  followed  it.  When  I  .entered 
the  church  every  seat  seemed  to  be  taken,  but  the  presiding 
elder,  who  occupied  the  desk,  noticed  me,  and  beckoned  to  me 
to  come  forward,  which  I  did,  and  took  the  only  vacant  place 
on  what  was  called  the  anxious  seat — a  bench  in  front  of  the 
pulpit  that  was  reserved  for  those  who  were  termed  "  seekers." 
I  was  not  one  of  the  seekers,  but  I  was  not  unwilling  to  be 
seated  among  those  that  were. 

The  sermon  was  a  good  one,  plain  and  practical,  but  it 
lacked  enthusiasm.  It  produced  no  excitement,  and  there 
were  no  responses  except  an  occasional  "  Amen ; "  but  when 
it  closed  a  woman  began  to  sing  one  of  their  revival  hymns, 


56      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

other  voices  joined,  and  in  a  moment  it  seemed  to  me  that 
everybody  in  the  church,  except  myself,  was  either  singing 
or  shouting ;  and  so  magnetic  was  the  excitement  that  it  was 
with  great  difficulty  that  I  kept  down  the  disposition  to  shout 
with  them.  There  was,  of  course,  no  more  of  real  reliinon  in 

O 

this  excitement  than  there  was  of  real  patriotism  in  the  excite 
ment  of  the  Harrison  campaign.  There  is  this  much  to  be  said, 
however,  in  favor  of  such  revivals :  they  brought  into  the 
Christian  fold,  where  they  were  instructed  as  to  the  true 
nature  of  vital  piety,  thousands  of  people  who  might  not  have 
been  otherwise  reclaimed. 

General  Harrison  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 
The  campaign  was  an  exciting  one,  but  one-sided.  The  en 
thusiasm  was  all  on  the  side  of  the  "Whigs.  The  country,  as  I 
have  said,  was  then  in  great  financial  difficulties.  The  ma 
jority  of  the  people  were  heavily  in  debt,  with  no  means  to 
pay.  The  only  general  currency  in  use  was  the  notes  of 
suspended  banks,  and  these  were  steadily  being  called  in. 
Gold  and  silver  had  disappeared  from  circulation.  There  was 
not  enough  of  the  latter  even  for  change,  and  what  were 
called  "  shinplasters "  (fractional  currency  issued  by  States, 
companies  or  corporations,  uncurrent,  of  course,  except  in  the 
neighborhood  of  their  issue,  and  in  many  cases  worthless) 
became  the  necessary  substitute  for  it.  Credit  was  known 
only  in  name.  The  whole  country  seemed  to  be  upon  the 
verge  of  absolute  bankruptcy. 

While  this  was  the  unhappy  condition  of  the  people,  the 
President  was  represented  by  stump  orators  as  living  in 
luxury,  giving  sumptuous  dinners  to  his  friends,  with  a  ser 
vice  of  silver  plate  and  gold  spoons.  Relief  was  needed, 
and  this  relief  was  hoped  for  in  a  change  of  administration. 
This  change  was  easily  effected,  but  the  depression  contin 
ued  and  did  not  reach  its  lowest  point  until  1842.  The  elec 
tion  of  General  Harrison  was  barren  of  the  hoped-for  results. 
The  ascendency  of  the  Whig  party  was  short-lived.  Har- 


FINANCIAL    DIFFICULTIES.  57 

rison  died  a  few  months  after  he  became  President.  Tyler 
vetoed  Mr.  Clay's  bank  bill,  and  became  alienated  from  his 
party,  and  at  the  next  election,  the  Democratic  partv,  which 
had  been  apparently  buried  so  deep  that  its  resurrection  was 
impossible,  again  had  the  control  of  the  Executive  bv  the 
election  of  Mr.  Polk,  a  comparatively  undistinguished  and 
unknown  man,  over  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  been  for  years  the 
leader  of  his  party  and  the  most  personally  popular  man  of 
his  time. 

The  depression  which  prevailed  from  1837  to  1843  can 
not  be  understood  by  any  who  did  not  witness  it.  It  was 
widespread  and  all-pervading.  It  affected  all  classes,  but  the 
greatest  sufferers,  next  to  the  day  laborers,  were  the  farmers. 
Everything  which  the  farmer  had  to  sell  had  to  be  disposed  of 
in  barter  or  for  currency  at  ruinous  prices.  I  witnessed  in 
1841  a  sale  to  a  hotel -keeper  in  Indianapolis  of  oats  at  six  cents 
a  bushel,  chickens  at  half  a  dollar  a  dozen,  and  eggs  at  three 
cents  a  dozen.  Other  farm  products  were  proportionately 
low ;  two  cents  and  a  half  a  pound  net  for  fat  cattle  and  hogs 
was  the  ruling  price  at  Cincinnati — at  that  time  the  great  mart 
for  beef  and  pork.  These  prices,  so  ruinous  to  farmers,  would 
have  been  of  advantage  to  consumers  had  they  been  merely 
the  result  of  over-production,  but  this  was  not  the  case. 
Money  was  as  scarce  as  prices  were  low.  The  dollar  had 
great  purchasing  power,  but  the  dollar  was  difficult  to  get. 
Capitalists  (they  were  not  very  numerous  in  those  days)  felt 
the  effect  of  it  less  than  others,  but  even  they  were  far  from 
being  happy,  as  they  could  find  no  safe  and  profitable  use  for 
their  money.  Day  laborers  were  the  severest  sufferers,  for 
wages  declined  more  than  the  prices  of  the  articles  which  they 
needed  for  their  own  support  and  the  support  of  their  families. 
Many  were  out  of  employment,  and  those  that  were  employed 
were  able  only  by  the  closest  economy  to  keep  the  wolf  from 
the  door. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  discover  the  causes  of  the  great  finan- 


58      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

cial  troubles  which  have  occurred  in  the  United  States.  Those 
which  commenced  in  1837,  and  continued  with  steadily  in 
creasing  severity  until  1842,  and  from  which  there  was  no 
decided  relief  until  1844,  were  largely  the  result  of  the  hostility 
of  President  Jackson  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  In  1832 
he  vetoed  the  bill  for  its  re-charter ;  in  1833,  by  his  order,  it 
ceased  to  be  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  Government.  In  anticipa 
tion  of  the  winding  up  of  this  Bank,  which  had  branches 
in  most  of  the  large  cities,  a  great  number  of  banks  were 
organized  in  1834  and  1835,  under  State  la\vs,  and  some  of 
them,  which  were  known  as  ''  pet  banks,"  whose  notes  were 
made  receivable  for  customs  and  lands,  the  only  sources  of 
public  revenue,  were  selected  to  be  the  depositaries  of  public 
moneys. 

In  the  same  year  many  of  the  States  engaged  in  what 
were  called  works  of  internal  improvement,  for  the  construc 
tion  of  which  bonds  were  issued  from  time  to  time  and  sold 
chiefly  in  Europe.  In  February,  1836,  a  bank  under  the  name 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  chartered 
by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  to  be  the  successor  of  the 
United  States  Bank  and  with  the  same  capital.  The  result  of 
these  financial  enterprises  was  a  very  large  increase  in  the  circu 
lating  medium  and  an  expansion  of  credits,  which  led  to  invest 
ment  in  all  kinds  of  property  and  to  wild  speculation.  Within  a 
period  of  one  or  two  years  cotton  advanced  from  seven  or  eight 
cents  a  pound  to  fifteen  and  sixteen ;  wheat  from  a  dollar  a 
bushel  to  two  dollars,  and  almost  all  other  agricultural  produc 
tions  in  the  same  ratio.  The  advance  in  the  prices  of  cotton 
and  wheat  lands  was  still  greater,  and  millions  of  acres  of 
Government  wild  lands  were  bought  for  purely  speculative 
purposes.  Unfortunately,  however,  as  is  frequently  the  case 
in  times  of  seeming  prosperity,  industry,  and  consequently  pro 
duction,  declined,  and  in  1836  many  articles  of  prime  impor 
tance  commanded  exorbitant  prices  by  reason  of  their  actual 
scarcity.  In  July  of  that  year  the  Government  divorced 


WILD    SPECULATIONS.  59 

itself  from  the  banks  and  issued  what  was  called  tiie  Specie 
Circular,  prohibiting  the  receipt  of  anything  but  gold  or  silver 
for  public  dues.  This  checked  to  some  extent  the  rise  of  the 
tide  of  speculation,  but  it  continued  with  diminished  force 
until  the  spring  of  1837  when,  the  current  of  exchange  having 
turned  against  the  United  States,  the  banks  in  the  sea-board 
cities  were  heavily  drawn  upon  for  coin,  and  on  the  10th  of 
May,  1837,  the  banks  in  Xew  York  were  compelled  to  suspend 
specie  payments.  Those  in  the  other  cities  and  throughout 
the  country  suspended  also  as  soon  as  the  intelligence  of  the 
New  York  suspension  reached  them,  and  thus  was  commenced 
that  protracted  period  of  terrible  depression  to  which  I  have 
referred,  during  which  the  accumulations  of  years  were  swept 
away  and  many  States  and  most  of  the  enterprising  citizens 
of  the  country  were  forced  into  bankruptcy.  The  stay  and 
appraisement  laws  which  were  enacted  by  State  legislatures, 
instead  of  giving  relief,  aggravated  the  evils  by  the  destruction 
of  credit.  No  one  who  was  not  an  observer  of  the  troubles 
which  then  overwhelmed  the  country  can  have  any  concep 
tion  of  their  extent  and  severity.  Of  all  the  cities,  that 
great  conservative  city  Philadelphia — which  up  to  that  time 
had  been,  by  reason  of  its  being  the  home  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  the  money  centre  of  the  Union — was  the  severest 
sufferer. 

The  second  bill  for  the  re-charter  of  that  bank  having  been 
vetoed  by  the  President,  the  Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  as  I  have  said,  was  chartered  by  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  went  immediately  into  operation,  as  the  suc 
cessor  in  credit  and  business  of  that  great  institution  which 
had  done  so  much  to  benefit  the  country,  and  whose  long  and 
successful  career  was  drawing  to  a  close.  Unfortunately  its 
means  were  larger  than  could  be  used  in  legitimate  banking, 
and  its  manager,  the  President,  with  a  recklessness  which 
seemed  like  infatuation,  undertook  to  check  the  downward 
tendency  of  prices,  chiefly  of  cotton,  by  enormous  purchases. 


60      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Instead  of  accomplishing  this  object  he  ruined  the  bank.  Its 
failure  was  most  disastrous ;  its  entire  capital  was  sunk,  and  its 
many  thousands  of  depositors,  although  ultimately  paid,  were 
for  a  time  greatly  distressed. 

There  was  another  bank  which  came  to  grief  by  having  too 
much  money.  The  Bank  of  Michigan,  at  Detroit,  had  for 
years  been  managed  with  great  prudence,  meriting  the  confi 
dence  which  it  enjoyed.  It  was  one  of  the  "  pet  banks,"  and  a 
favorite.  In  January,  1830,  I  had  some  business  to  transact 
with  it,  and  I  called  upon  the  president,  Mr.  Hastings,  just 
after  the  adjournment  of  the  board  of  directors.  He  was  not 
in  his  usual  good  humor,  and  he  explained  the  cause.  "  I 
have,"  he  said,  "  been  overruled  by  my  directors.  We  owe  the 
Government  a  million  of  dollars,  and  we  have  more  than  that 
in  ISTew  York.  I  wanted  to  square  the  account  and  dissolve 
our  connection  with  the  Government.  The  directors  did  not 
agree  with  me.  The  idea  of  giving  up  the  use  of  a  million  of 
dollars  for  which  we  were  paying  no  interest  seemed  to  them 
absurd.  They  instructed  me  to  use  the  money  in  current  busi 
ness,  and  I  must  be  governed  by  their  instructions."  The 
money  was  loaned  when  the  speculative  tide  was  at  its  height, 
and  the  bank  went  down  in  the  general  crush,  hopelessly 
insolvent. 

The  veto  of  the  bank  bill  by  President  Jackson  was  strongly 
disapproved  by  many  of  the  wisest  men  of  his  party,  but  he 
was  the  idol  of  the  Democratic  masses,  and  resistance  to  his 
iron  and  misdirected  will,  even  by  those  who  claimed  to  be 
their  leaders,  was  impotent.  This  veto  was  unquestionably 
the  prime  cause  of  the  unparalleled  financial  troubles,  the 
political  effect  of  which  was  visited  upon  the  unoffending  head 
of  his  successor,  Mr.  Van  Buren.  That  the  United  States 
Bank,  managed,  as  it  was  during  it  sentire  career,  as  a  strictly 
business  institution,  was  of  immense  utility  to  the  country,  is 
apparent  to  all  who  have  made  its  history  a  careful  study.  It 
was  useful  in  a  very  high  degree,  not  only  in  what  it  did,  but 


PRESIDENT    JACKSON'S    VETO    OF    THE    BANK    BILL.     61 

in  what  it  prevented.  It  furnished  a  bank-note  currency  of 
uniform  value  and  perfect  solvency;  it  fostered  well-directed 
industry;  it  regulated  exchanges;  it  created  a  high  standard 
of  mercantile  and  commercial  credit.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
stood  in  the  way  of  the  creation  of  State  banks,  with  unreal 
capital,  and  held  in  check  the  disposition  of  its  customers  to 
engage  in  speculative  enterprise. 

What  the  United  States  needs  to-day,  and  will  need  still 
more  when  the  National  Banking  System  shall  cease  to  exist, 
is  a  national  bank  with  capital  enough  to  enable  it  to  act  as 
a  regulator  of  the  rates  of  interest,  and  consequently  to  a  large 
extent  of  business.  Such  a  bank  is  the  Bank  of  England, 
which  has  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  Great  Britain — a 
bank  which,  in  its  management,  is  outside  of  politics,  and  over 
which  there  are  never  any  partisan  squabbles  ;  which  is  inde 
pendent  of  the  Crown,  and  practically  of  Parliament ;  which 
keeps  its  fingers  on  the  business  pulse  of  the  country,  and  by 
its  wise  and  prompt  action  contributes  immensely  to  the  sta 
bility  and  healthiness  of  trade. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Thomas  Corwin — His  Popular  Oratory — Reply  to  General  Crary  of  Michigan 
— Speech  on  the  Mexican  War — Robert  C.  Schenck — First  Laurels  won  in 
Debate  with  John  Brough — Appointed  Minister  to  Brazil — Resumes  the 
Practice  of  the  Law— At  the  Outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  gives  up  a  Lucra 
tive  Practice  and  becomes  a  Soldier — Elected  to  Congress  while  in  the 
Field — Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means— Appointed  Min 
ister  Plenipotentiary  to  Great  Britain — Performs  his  Duties  with  Great 
Ability — His  Connection  with  a  Mining  Company — Complies  with  the 
Request  of  a  Distinguished  Lady  to  describe  a  Game  of  Cards — Unjustly 
treated  by  the  Press  and  by  the  Government. 

SOON  after  I  reached  Indiana  I  heard  a  good  deal  about 
two  men,  with  both  of  whom  I  became  well  acquainted 
in  after  years,  of  whom  I  cannot  forbear  to  say  a  few  words, 
Thomas  Corwin  and  Robert  C.  Schenck,  the  former  then  a 
prominent  member  of  Congress,  the  latter  a  rising  young  law 
yer  ;  both  ardent  Whigs  and  citizens  of  Ohio.  Of  Mr.  Corwin 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  in  wit,  in  humor,  in  general 
knowledge,  in  a  ready  command  of  language,  in  voice,  in  mo 
bility  and  expressiveness  of  features,  in  all  the  requisites  for 
fascinating  and  effective  stump  oratory,  he  was  without  an 
equal. 

Men  would  travel  twenty  or  thirty  miles  to  listen  to  the 
matchless  orator,  and  even  his  political  opponents  could  not 
help  joining  in  the  applause  which  his  speeches  never  failed  to 
call  forth.  His  memory  was  not  only  a  perfect  storehouse  of 
historical  facts,  but  also  of  anecdotes  and  stories.  It  was  worth 
a  "  Sabbath  day's  journey  "  to  hear  "  Tom  "  Corwin  (as  he  was 
familiarly  called)  tell  a  story.  ]S"o  matter  how  frequently 
heard,  it  was  always  made  fresh  and  racy  by  his  variable  and 
inimitable  manner  of  telling  it.  While  to  his  extraordinary 
control  of  the  muscles  of  his  face,  which  were  alwavs  in  accord 


THOMAS  comvix.  63 

with  the  sentiments  he  was  expressing  and  the  anecdotes  he 
was  relating,  and  to  his  charming  voice  the  attractiveness  of 
his  speeches  was  in  no  small  degree  attributable,  they  were 
never  lacking  in  eloquence  or  force.  He  had  always  some 
thing  good  to  say,  and  he  never  failed  to  be  instructive  as  well 
as  fascinating.  His  power  over  popular  and  promiscuous 
assemblies  was  immense.  Plain  farmers  would  not  only  travel 
long  distances  to  hear  him,  but  they  would  stand  for  hours 
under  a  burning  sun  or  in  a  pelting  rain,  seemingly  oblivious 
of  everything  but  the  speeches  by  which  their  attention  was 
absorbed. 

Nor  was  his  fame  as  an  orator  confined  to  Ohio.  By 
his  speeches  in  Congress  he  acquired  a  national  reputation. 
Made  upon  subjects  which  have  long  ceased  to  be  interesting, 
no  one  can  read  them  now  without  feeling  that  they  place  him 
in  the  front  rank  of  American  orators.  Two  of  them  espe 
cially  illustrated  his  peculiar  powers — one  delivered  in  the 
House  in  1S40,  in  reply  to  General  Crary  ;  the  other  in  the 
Senate  in' 1847,  upon  the  Mexican  War  ;  the  former  a  master 
piece  of  wit  and  humor,  the  latter  all  aglow  from  the  begin 
ning  to  the  end  with  patriotic  eloquence. 

General  Crary,  of  Michigan,  a  gentleman  of  considerable 
ability,  in  a  bitter  partisan  speech  had  criticised  the  military 
character  of  General  Harrison,  the  Whig  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  especially  his  generalship  in  the  battle  of  Tippe- 
canoe.  In  his  off-hand  reply  to  this  speech  Mr.  Convin  gave 
free  rein  to  the  style  in  which  he  surpassed  all  men  of  his  day. 
While  he  did  not  fail  to  vindicate  Harrison's  military  capacity, 
as  displayed  in  that  battle,  by  apt  references  to  the  action  of 
soldiers  of  acknowledged  merit  in  somewhat  similar  circum 
stances,  he  overwhelmed  his  assailant  with  ridicule  by  show 
ing  what  his  opportunities  had  been  for  learning  how  battles 
should  be  fought.  General  Crary  was  a  military  general  on  a 
peace  establishment.  Taking  advantage  of  this  fact,  Mr.  Cor- 
win  described  in  his  inimitable  manner  a  Michigan  militia 


64  MEN   AND    MEASURES   OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

parade  with  General  Crary  as  the  commanding  figure ;  the 
troops  in  motion  with  hoes,  axe-handles  and  other  deadly  im 
plements  of  war  overshadowing  the  field  ;  the  general,  with  his 
gaudy  epaulets  gleaming  in  the  sun,  mounted  upon  a  crop  eared, 
bushy-tailed  mare,  fourteen  hands  high,  riding  gallantly  in 
front,  displaying  the  beauty  of  his  steed  and  his  superior  horse 
manship  ;  and  when  the  parade  was  over  satisfying  the  thirst 
which  his  glorious  labor  had  created  with  watermelons  which 
he  slashed  with  his  mighty  sword  and  shared  with  his  heroic 
men.  I  recollect  no  speech  so  provocative  of  hearty  laughter 
as  this  speech  of  Mr.  Corwin.  His  exaggerated  but  somewhat 
truthful  description  of  a  militia  parade  (general  training,  it  was 
called)  in  the  early  days  of  the  West,  in  the  conduct  of  which 
General  Crary  was  supposed  to  have  acquired  the  knowledge 
that  fitted  him  to  criticise  General  Harrison's  military  charac 
ter,  was  so  absolutely  funny  that  the  House  was  convulsed 
with  merriment,  and  Democrats  as  wrell  as  Whigs  shouted  as 
he  went  on  until  they  were  hoarse.  To  such  a  speech  there 
could  be  no  answer.  General  Crary  subsided.  He  was  never 
heard  again  in  the  House  or  in  public  in  Michigan.  "  Slain 
by  Corwin,"  was  the  return  of  the  inquest  over  his  political 
remains. 

Mr.  Corwin's  speech  upon  the  Mexican  War  was  of  an  en 
tirely  different  character.  There  was  in  it  some  of  his  usual 
humor,  which  he  could  never  entirely  restrain,  no  matter  what 
subject  he  might  be  discussing,  but  it  was  especially  remarkable 
for  its  very  able  exposition  of  the  unjustifiableness  of  the  war. 
It  is  a  speech  that  excites  the  same  emotion  now  which  I  felt 
when  I  read  it  nearly  forty  years  ago;  a  speech  full  of  eloquent 
appeal  to  the  honor  of  the  Senate,  and  of  scathing  denunciation 
of  the  action  of  the  Executive  in  commencing  an  aggressive 

o  00 

war,  without  the  authority  of  Congress,  upon  a  friendly  but 
feeble  nation  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  obtain  by  force  an 
extension  of  territory. 

Mr.  Corwin's  reputation  for  patriotism  can  safely  rest  upon 


COUWIN'S    SPEECH    ON   THE    MEXICAN'    WAR.  65 

that  speech.  It  commanded  the  attention  of  the  Senate  as 
few  speeches  have  ever  done.  It  was  heartily  responded  to 
by  the  Senators  who  were  in  sympathy  with  the  orator,  and 
was  listened  to  attentively  by  those  who  were  already  com 
mitted  to  the  war.  It  was  extensively  published,  and  read 
with  delight  by  the  many  thousands  to  whom  the  national 
honor  was  dearer  than  military  renown,  but  nevertheless  it 
was  a  most  unfortunate  speech  for  Mr.  Corwin  in  respect 
to  his  political  career.  It  was  made  when  the  nation  was 
engaged  in  war;  when  the  people  were  exulting  over  the 
success  of  the  national  arms  at  Palo  Alto  and  Monterey,  under 
General  Taylor,  and  just  before  General  Scott  commenced  his 
triumphant  march  from  the  Gulf  to  the  Mexican  capital ;  when 
thousands  of  young  men  were  offering  their  services  as  volun 
teers;  when  the  war  spirit  of  the  multitude  was  thoroughly 
aroused.  For  a  Senator  under  such  circumstances  to  oppose 
the  war  and  advise  the  withdrawal  of  troops  from  Mexican 
territory,  and  for  him  to  say,  as  Mr.  Corwin  did,  that  if  he 
were  a  Mexican,  "he  would  welcome  the  invaders  with  bloody 
hands  to  hospitable  graves,"  was  equivalent  to  signing  with  his 
own  hands  his  political  death-warrant.  The  unpopularity  of 
this  speech  was  deepened  by  the  result  of  the  war,  which  was 
soon  after  terminated  by  the  capture  of  the  City  of  Mexico. 

It  Avas  a  very  gainful  war  to  the  United  States.  California 
and  Xew  Mexico  became  ours  virtually  by  conquest,  although 
these  vast  territories  were  not  ceded  by  Mexico  until  the  fol 
lowing  year,  when,  by  the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe,  she  released 
all  claim  upon  them  on  the  agreement  of  the  United  States  to 
pay  for  them  fifteen  millions  of  dollars — a  hundred  times  less 
than  they  were  really  worth.  It  is  a  hazardous  thing  for  a 
man  who  is  in  public  life,  or  who  expects  to  enter  into  it,  to 
oppose  a  war,  no  matter  how  unjust  he  may  consider  it,  in 
which  his  country  is  already  engaged.  Very  few  have  done  so 
in  any  country  without  being  driven  politically  to  the  wall. 
Men  are  by  nature  fond  of  war,  and  this  natural  fondness  is 
5 


66  ME1ST   AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF    A    CENTUEY. 

vastly  strengthened  by  the  glory  which  always  waits  upon 
successful  warriors.  It  is  not  the  civilian,  no  matter  how  im 
portant  may  have  been  his  discoveries,  or  valuable  his  services 
to  his  country  and  the  world,  but  the  war-chief,  however  des 
picable  his  character,  who  receives  the  adulation  of  the  multi 
tude  and  occupies  a  distinguished  place  in  history.  No  one 
understood  this  better  than  did  Mr.  Corwin  when  he  made  his 
celebrated  anti-war  speech :  but  he  was  one  of  the  very  few 
men  who  openly  avow  their  sentiments  without  counting  the 
cost  to  their  own  popularity.  All  honor  to  those  who,  few  in 
numbers  but  grand  in  character,  cling  to  their  convictions  of 
honor  and  duty,  however  strong  may  be  the  popular  tide  which 
they  encounter ! 

Mr.  Schenck  was  in  many  respects  very  different  from  Mr. 
Corwin— superior  in  some,  inferior  in  others.  He  had  more  of 
what  might  be  called  intellectual  grip ;  a  stronger  hold  upon 
the  subject  he  was  discussing ;  more  consecutiveness  in  argu 
ment,  and  more  terseness  in  expression  than  Mr.  Corwin ;  but 
he  lacked  the  wit  and  humor  which  made  Mr.  Corwin's 
speeches  so  fascinating,  the  fervid  eloquence  which  rendered 
them  so  overpowering.  He  won  his  first  laurels  in  an  en 
counter  with  John  Brough,  the  Boanerges  of  the  Democratic 
party,  the  champion  advocate  of  its  principles  in  Ohio.  Mr. 
Brough  was  then  in  the  meridian  of  life.  In  mental  vigor, 
in  acuteness  and  skill  in  debate  arid  in  strength  of  voice,  he 
greatly  resembled  Mr.  Douglas.  So  formidable  was  he  in 
debate,  and  so  high  was  his  reputation  as  a  speaker,  that  very 
few  Whigs  were  bold  enough  to  meet  him  upon  the  stump.  It 
was  with  him  that  Mr.  Schenck,  then  but  a  boy  in  appearance, 
and  not  much  beyond  boyhood  in  years,  had  his  first  political 
encounter.  That  so  young  a  man,  so  inexperienced  in  debate, 
should  willingly  meet  the  victor  upon  scores  of  intellectual 
battle-field,  seemed  to  savor  rather  of  recklessness  than  of 
courage;  but  so  skilfully  did  he  use  his  weapons,  so  fearless 
did  he  prove  himself  to  be  in  attack,  and  so  prompt  and  ready 


ROBERT    C.    SCIIENCK.  67 

in  defence,  that  if  he  was  not  the  acknowledged  victor,  he 
forced  his  opponent  to  admit  that  he  had  met  a  foeman  worthy 
of  his  steel.  From  that  time  Mr.  Schenck  was  one  of  the 
most  prominent  Whigs  of  Ohio.  He  was  elected  to  Congress 
in  1842,  and  he  represented  his  district  with  acknowledged 
ability  for  eight  years,  when  he  was  appointed  Minister  to 
Brazil. 

On  his  return  to  Ohio  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law 
which,  had  he  been  governed  by  his  pecuniary  interests,  he 
would  never  have  abandoned.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil 
war  he  manifested  his  patriotism  by  giving  up  a  lucrative  prac 
tice  and  entering  the  field  as  a  soldier.  He  was  wounded 
in  the  second  Bull  Run  battle,  but  he  did  not  resign  his  com 
mand.  Yielding,  however,  to  the  pressure  of  those  who  knew 
how  much  he  was  needed  in  Congress,  he  suffered  his  name 
to  be  used  for  a  seat  in  the  House,  and  so  high  was  his 
reputation  that  while  still  in  the  field  he  was  triumphantly 
elected  in  a  strong  Democratic  district.  As  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  in  which  position  he  succeeded 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  he  exhibited  rare  ability  in  preparing  and 
carrying  through  Congress  various  financial  and  economical 
bills  upon  which  the  safety  of  the  Government  and  the  main 
tenance  of  its  credit  depended.  It  is  generally  admitted  that 
no  man  has  ever  discharged  the  duties  of  that  difficult  position 
with  more  tact  and  ability. 

In  1871  General  Schenck  was  appointed  Minister  Pleni 
potentiary  to  Great  Britain,  for  which  place  he  was  eminently 
fitted  except  in  a  single  respect.  He  had  given  many  of  the 
best  years  of  his  life  to  his  country's  service  and  been  impover 
ished  by  it.  The  Government  of  the  United  States,  to  its 
shame  be  it  said,  is  the  only  government  that  sends  men  to 
represent  it  at  expensive  courts  without  supplying  them  with 
the  means  to  live  handsomely.  JSTo  man  who  has  not  a 
private  fortune  to  draw  upon  should  be  appointed  minister  to 
any  of  the  leading  courts  of  Europe.  Foreign  missions  should 


68  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

either  be  discontinued,  or  adequate  provision  should  be  made 
for  their  honorable  support.  The  appointment  of  Mr.  Schenck 
was  heartily  approved  by  all  who  knew  him.  Xo  one  ever 
sent  on  that  important  mission  was  ever  more  warmly  endorsed 
by  the  press  than  he  was. 

There  were  very  difficult  questions  then  pending  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  upon  the  proper  solution 
of  which  amicable  relations  between  the  two  countries  de 
pended.  It  was,  therefore,  of  the  last  importance  that  our 
representative  should  be  thoroughly  equipped  for  the  dis 
charge  of  his  duties,  in  order  that  peace  might  be  pre 
served  while  the  honor  of  his  country  should  be  in  no  wise 
impaired.  To  properly  represent  his  country  under  such  cir 
cumstances  General  Schenck  was  eminently  fitted  ;  nor  did 
he  fail  in  any  respect  to  justify  his  appointment.  Less  courtly 
than  Mr.  Motley,  less  eloquent  than  Mr.  Lowell,  and  less  schol 
arly  than  either,  he  was  their  superior  in  aptitude  for  busi 
ness,  their  equal  in  diplomatic  skill.  That  he  performed  the 
very  important  duties  which  were  devolved  upon  him  with 
marked  ability  is  undeniable. 

I  was  living  in  London  during  the  entire  period  of  his  mis 
sion,  and  I  speak  advisedly  when  I  say  that  he  commanded 
in  a  high  degree  the  respect  of  the  British  Government. 
Notwithstanding  all  this  he  returned  to  the  United  States 
with  a  cloud  upon  his  reputation.  At  the  solicitation  of  a 
friend  he  permitted  his  name  to  be  used  in  the  prospectus 
of  a  mining  company,  and  became  one  of  its  directors.  This 
was  unquestionably  an  error  on  his  part,  but  it  was  not  a 
serious  one,  nor  did  the  Executive  of  the  United  States  so 
regard  it.  He  had  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  mine  was 
a  valuable  one.  If  there  was  fraud  in  the  representation  of 
it  in  the  prospectus,  he  was  not  a  party  to  it  or  cognizant  of 
it.  But  this  was  not  all.  He  was  frequently  the  guest  of  a 
lady  so  distinguished  that  it  was  an  honor  to  any  one  to  be 
invited  to  her  house.  On  one  occasion  the  merits  of  the  differ- 


GENERAL    SCHENCK S    DIPLOMATIC    CAREER.  G9 

ent  games  in  which  cards  were  used  was  a  subject  of  conversa 
tion,  in  the  course  of  which  General  Schenck  mentioned  poker, 
a  game  then  quite  unknown  in  London.  His  hostess  became 
interested  in  his  description  of  it,  and  requested  him  to  write 
it  out  for  her.  He  could  not  decline  to  comply  with  her 
request,  and  she  had  his  description  of  the  game  printed  for 
her  own  use  and  the  use  of  her  friends  only.  Hence  the  name 
of  the  United  States  Minister  became  connected  with  the  game 
of  poker.  The  story  soon  took  wings  that  he  was  a  poker 
player,  and  was  instructing  the  card  players  of  London  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  game.  This  story  wras  at  once  seized  upon  by 
the  journals  that  had  already  opened  their  batteries  upon  him 
for  his  connection  with  a  mining  company,  and  made  the  text 
of  unparalleled  abuse. 

I  know  nothing  about  the  game,  but  its  name  is  not  a 
pleasant  one.  It  carries  with  it  obloquy  which  attaches  to 
no  other  game,  and  the  association  of  the  name  of  the  United 
States  Minister  with  it  was  regarded  as  casting  dishonor  upon 
the  Government  which  he  represented.  Never  was  a  public 
man  so  violently  denounced  as  he  was  for  what,  after  all,  was 
a  mere  act  of  courtesy  to  a  distinguished  lady.  The  varied 
and  valuable  services  which  he  had  rendered — such  services  as 
in  other  countries  are  recognized  by  liberal  and  substantial 
rewards — went  for  naught.  The  very  journals  that  had  in  the 
strongest  terms  endorsed  his  appointment  became  his  vindic 
tive  assailants.  Very  few  of  our  public  men  have  served  their 
country  so  honorably  and  unselfishly  as  General  Schenck; 
none  has  been  so  unfairly  treated. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ride  to  Indianapolis— The  City  as  it  then  was— Its  First  Settlers— Nicholas 
McCarty,  James  Blake,  Samuel  Merrill,  Harvey  Bates,  Calvin  Fletcher, 
James  M'Ray,  John  Coburn,  Dr.  Coe — Some  of  the  Prominent  Men  of  the 
State — Oliver  P.  Morton — Thomas  A.  Hendricks— Daniel  W.  Voorhees— 
The  Methodists — Armstrong,  Bascom,  Durbin,  Simpson. 

IE"  the  latter  part  of  May,  in  the  company  of  Mr.  Sullivan 
and  two  or  three  other  lawyers,  I  went  to  Indianapolis, 
the  capital  of  the  State.  The  journey  was  made  in  a  strong 
spring  wagon,  called  a  stage-coach,  and  such  was  the  condition 
of  the  road  that  it  required  two  full  days  to  complete  it. 
Upon  our  arrival  at  the  only  tavern  in  the  place,  we  received 
the  sad  intelligence  that  Mr.  Houck  was  dying  from  a  violent 
attack  of  bilious  colic,  caused  by  his  having  eaten  heartily  of 
cherries  not  fully  ripened.  He  died  a  few  hours  after.  His 
death  was  a  severe  shock  to  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
which  was  then  in  session,  and  to  the  members  of  the  bar,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  chief  ornaments.  I  have  already 
referred  to  the  touching  and  eloquent  eulogy  pronounced  over 
his  remains  by  his  friend  Mr.  Dewey. 

The  day  following  his  funeral  I  was  examined  by  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  licensed  to  practice  law  in  all  the 
courts  of  the  State.  The  question  then  to  be  decided  was 
whether  I  should  settle  in  Indianapolis  or  seek  a  home  some 
where  else.  Indianapolis  had  been  made  the  seat  of  the  State 
Government  in  1821,  but  was  not  occupied  as  such  until 
1825.  It  had  been  selected  for  the  capital,  not  because  there 
was  anything  attractive  in  the  situation,  but  because  it  was 
near  the  geographical  centre  of  the  State.  Its  site  was  upon 
the  eastern  bank  of  White  River,  in  the  heart  of  a  magnificent 


INDIANAPOLIS.  71 

forest,  but  on  what  seemed  to  be  a  perfectly  level  plain.  It 
had  been  laid  off  by  the  surveyors  on  a  magnificent  scale,  with 
rectangular  streets  ninety  feet,  and  avenues  radiating  from  the 
centre  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  width.  Ample  pro 
vision  had  been  made  for  parks  to  enclose  the  public  buildings, 
and  the  plan  of  the  city  upon  paper  was  attractive  and  artistic, 
but  upon  paper  only.  Little  resemblance,  indeed,  did  the  place 
itself  bear  to  the  plat.  The  parks,  in  which  were  the  State 
House,  just  then  completed,  and  the  court-house,  had  been 
enclosed  with  post  and  rail  fences,  but  nothing  had  been  done 
to  the  streets  except  to  remove  the  stumps  from  two  or  three 
of  those  most  used.  All  of  the  noble  old  trees — walnuts,  oaks, 
poplars,  the  like  of  which  will  never  be  seen  again — had  been 
cut  down,  and  around  the  parks  young  locust  and  other  inferior 
but  rapidly  growing  trees  had  been  set  out.  There  were  no 
sidewalks,  and  the  streets  most  in  use,  after  every  rain,  and  for 
a  good  part  of  the  year,  were  knee-deep  witlj  mud. 

As  a  director  of  the  State  Bank,  I  was  under  the  necessity 
for  many  years  of  making  quarterly  trips  on  horseback  from 
Fort  Wayne  to  Indianapolis  through  a  country  almost  impass 
able  by  carriages  of  any  kind,  and  yet  I  never  encountered 
mud  deeper  or  more  tenacious  than  in  the  streets  of  the  capital 
of  the  State.  I  have  seen  many  of  the  incipient  towns  of  the 
West,  but  none  so  utterly  forlorn  as  Indianapolis  appeared  to 
me  in  the  spring  of  1833.  It  had  no  local  advantages  except 
the  fact  that  it  was  surrounded  by  a  very  fertile  country ; 
nothing  to  recommend  it  but  its  being  the  metropolis  of  the 
State.  There  were  then  only  two  bridges  in  Indiana,  and 
these  had  been  built  by  the  United  States  in  anticipation  of 
the  extension  from  Richmond  to  Terre  Haute  of  the  national 
road,  which  extension  was  prevented  by  the  veto  of  Presi 
dent  Jackson,  which  I  referred  to  in  what  I  said  about  one  of 
Mr.  Webster's  speeches  in  Faneuil  Hall.  Upon  none  of  the 
roads  were  wagons  in  use,  even  for  carrying  the  mails,  ex 
cept  those  from  Madison  and  Terre  Haute  to  the  capital. 


72      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

From  all  other  points  it  could  only  be  reached  by  those 
who  travelled  on  foot  or  on  horseback.  No  one  who  saw 
Indianapolis  when  I  saw  it  for  the  first  time  could  have 
anticipated  its  rapid  growth  and  present  condition.  Xo  one 
could  have  dreamed  that  in  half  a  century  this  almost  inac 
cessible  village  would  become  a  great  railroad  centre,  with 
large  and  varied  manufactures,  a  population  of  a  hundred 
thousand  souls,  one  of  the  best  built  and  most  populous  cities 
in  the  Union  not  situated  upon  navigable  waters.  The 
engineers  who  surveyed  it  and  platted  it  were  wiser  than  their 
critics.  The  plat  which  then  seemed  so  preposterous  in  the 
extent  of  ground  which  it  covered,  has  been  again  and  again 
extended  by  additions  to  meet  the  wants  of  its  constantly 
increasing  population.  Instead  of  being  inaccessible,  there  are 
now  few  counties  in  the  State  which  are  not  connected  with  it 
by  railroads,  and  hundreds  of  trains  are  daily  arriving  at  it  or 
passing  through  it.  Then,  three  or  four  days  of  hard  horse 
back  riding  were  required  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  remote 
counties  to  reach  the  capital ;  now  they  reach  it  by  railroads  in 
as  many  hours. 

Indianapolis  was  fortunate  in  the  character  of  its  early  set 
tlers.  Such  men  as  Nicholas  McCarty,  James  Blake,  Samuel 
Merrill,  Harvey  Bates,  Calvin  Fletcher,  James  M'Kay,  John 
Coburn  and  Dr.  Ooe  are  rarely  found  in  any  place.  Their  su 
periors  in  intelligence,  in  enterprise  and  moral  worth  can  be 
found  nowhere.  What  was  true  in  regard  to  the  early  set 
tlers  of  Indianapolis  was  also  true  of  those  in  many  other  Indi 
ana  towns.  Nor  have  their  successors  been  degenerate.  No 
State  has  been  more  prolific  of  superior  men  than  Indiana ; 
few  have  been  as  well  represented  in  Congress.  Of  two  or 
three  of  them  whom  I  knew  well,  who  came  to  the  front 
after  I  became  a  resident  of  the  State,  I  cannot  forbear  to 
speak. 

Few  of  our  public  men  have  won  a  higher  or  wider  reputa 
tion  than  Oliver  P.  Morton.  As  Governor  of  a  State  during 


OLIVER    P.    MORTON.  73 

the  civil  war,  in  untiring  industry,  in  energy  and  in  devotion 
to  the  Government  he  found  a  rival  only  in  Governor  Andrew 
of  Massachusetts.  By  his  efficiency  in  forming  and  preparing 
for  the  field  the  numerous  regiments  which  Indiana  contrib 
uted  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  he  was  known  as  the 
War  Governor,  the  great  War  Governor  of  the  West.  As  a 
United  States  Senator  (my  impression  is  that  he  wa^  never  a 
member  of  any  other  legislative  assembly)  he  stood  in  the 
front  ranks.  Clear,  logical,  incisive,  he  soon  added  to  the  rep 
utation  he  had  acquired  as  an  executive  officer  the  reputation 
of  a  ready  and  vigorous  speaker.  Disabled  for  a  long  time  by 
physical  infirmity  from  standing  upon  his  feet,  his  mental 
vigor  was  unabated,  and  the  speeches  which  he  read  while 
sitting  in  his  chair  always  commanded  the  attention  as  they 
did  the  respect  of  the  Senate. 

Thomas  A.  Hendricks  served  four  years  in  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives,  and  although  one  of  the 
youngest  members  (he  had  just  completed  his  thirtieth  year 
when  he  was  first  elected)  he  soon  became  a  prominent  member. 
As  a  United  States  Senator  from  1803  to  1869  he  more  than 
maintained  the  high  reputation  which  he  had  secured  in  the 
House.  Pure  in  character,  faithful  to  duty,  courteous  in  man 
ners,  he  was  highly  respected  even  by  the  Senators  from 
whom  in  politics  he  radically  differed.  Upon  the  stump  he 
did  not  excite  the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd,  nor  did  he  attempt 
it.  His  aim  was  to  convince  and  to  win.  Intelligible,  earnest, 
sincere,  he  rarely  failed  to  impress  his  own  convictions  on 
those  who  listened  to  him.  Without  being  an  orator,  he  was 
one  of  the  most  effective  speakers  of  the  day.  As  a  lawyer 
he  stood  high,  both  as  counsellor  and  advocate.  His  two  nom 
inations  for  Yice-President  were  evidences  of  the  hold  which 
he  had  upon  the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  party.  For 
tunate  was  it  for  the  Democracy  that  his  name  was  upon  the 
ticket  with  President  Cleveland,  as  it  was  his  great  popularity 
that  insured  its  success  in  Indiana  and  strengthened  it  in 


74      MEX  AXD  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

other  States.  His  death  was  a  severe  loss,  not  only  to  his 
political  friends,  but  to  the  whole  country. 

Daniel  TV.  Voorhees  is  a  born  orator.  He  could  speak  elo 
quently  before  he  could  speak  correctly.  In  the  Senate  he  does 
not  speak  often,  but  always  to  the  point,  and  rarely  to  seats 
which  are  not  filled.  Upon  the  stump  he  has  few  equals  and 
no  supe^jors.  Of  a  commanding  figure,  copious  in  language 
without  being  verbose,  with  a  clear  ringing  voice  that  can  be 
heard  distinctly  by  the  largest  assembly,  even  in  the  open  air, 
and  a  perfectly  natural  and  easy  delivery,  he  is  a  popular  ora 
tor  of  the  highest  grade.  As  a  lawyer  he  may  not  be  ranked 
among  the  highest,  but  as  an  advocate,  especially  in  impor 
tant  criminal  cases,  where  his  sympathy  has  full  play  and  suc 
cessful  defence  depends  more  upon  skilful  management  and 
the  humane  feelings  of  the  jurors  than  upon  the  weight 
of  evidence,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  his  peer.  He  is  one 
of  Indiana's  favorite  and  most  highly  and  justly  honored 
sons. 

Nor,  in  these  reminiscences  of  the  early  days  of  the  "West, 
can  I  refrain  from  speaking  briefly  of  the  impression  which 
was  made  upon  me  by  the  Methodists  of  this  pioneer  period. 
A  Methodist  Conference  is  one  of  the  most  despotic  assemblies 
in  the  world.  It  is  the  Conference  that  decides  where  a 
preacher  shall  go  and  how  long  he  shall  stay  at  the  place  to 
which  he  has  been  appointed,  without  regard  to  his  pleasure 
or  the  wishes  of  the  churches.  From  this  decision  there  is  no 
appeal,  and  against  it  no  complaint  is  ever  uttered.  In  this 
respect  its  discipline  is  as  perfect  as  that  of  Rome.  If  promo 
tion  is  not  always  the  reward  of  merit,  it  is  the  result  of  the 
best  judgment  of  the  Conference,  and  this  judgment  is  rarely 
at  fault  and  never  revoked.  It  is  the  most  powerful  ecclesias 
tical  organization  in  the  United  States  except  the  Catholic, 
and  its  strength  and  cohesion  are  very  largely  attributable  to 
the  centralized  authority  in  the  Conference.  By  the  general 
spread  of  free  thought  and  the  increase  of  education  among  its 


THE    METHODIST    CONFERENCE.  75 

clergy  and  laity,  it  has,  like  the  Catholic  Church,  lost  some  of 
its  spiritual  power  and  sectarianism,  but  it  still  holds  fast  to 
the  theology  which  was  taught  by  its  founders.  Upon  the 
great  popular  questions  of  the  day  the  Methodists  are  more 
united  than  any  other  Protestant  denomination.  While  out 
side  of  theological  doctrines  freedom  of  opinion  nominally 
prevails,  there  is  not  often  much  diversity  of  opinion  among 
them  on  political  questions,  except  so  far  as  diversity  is  caused 
by  sectional  feeling.  Until  the  question  of  slavery  became  a 
political  question  a  large  majority  of  the  Methodists  were 
Democrats,  and  such  they  continued  to  be  until  the  church 
was  rent  in  twain  by  the  slavery  question.  Then  the  Metho 
dists  of  the  South  continued  to  be  Democrats,  while  those  of 
the  North  naturally  affiliated  with  the  anti-slavery  men  of 
their  own  section.  During  the  civil  war  the  Methodists  of 
the  North  stood  manfully  by  the  Government,  and  after  the 
war  they  became  Republicans.  The  Southern  Methodists  sus 
tained  the  Confederacy,  and  on  many  battle-fields  Northern 
and  Southern  Methodists  met  each  other  in  deadly  strife.  Re 
ligious  sentiment,  strong  as  it  may  be,  cannot  stand  against 
national  or  patriotic  feeling  when  thoroughly  aroused.  We 
had  an  illustration  of  this  in  the  late  Franco-German  war, 
in  which  the  Catholics  of  Bavaria  were  united  with  the 
Protestants  of  Prussia  against  Catholic  France.  Germany, 
divided  as  it  was  into  different  kingdoms  and  of  a  different 
religious  faith,  was  still  the  fatherland  of  the  Germans,  and  in 
their  devotion  to  it  the  antagonisms  of  faith  were  for  the  time 
buried.  In  saying  that  the  Northern  Methodists  before  the 
war  were  Democrats  and  that  they  are  now  Republicans,  I  do 
not  mean  that  there  were  and  are  no  exceptions.  What  I  do 
mean  is,  that  as  a  body  they  were  and  are  politically  united, 
as  was  and  is  the  case  with  no  other  Christian  denomination 
except  the  Catholic. 

Among  the  Methodist  clergy  in  the  early  days  of  the  West 
there  were  a  few  very  eminent  men,  of  whom  the  most  promi- 


76      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

nent  were  Armstrong,  whose  field  of  labor  covered  a  region 
which  is  now  the  home  of  millions  of  people,  and  who  would 
have  been  distinguished  for  his  ability  and  acquirements  in  the 
most  highly  cultivated  community  ;  Bascom,  whom  Henry 
Clay  described  as  being  the  most  eloquent  man  he  had  ever 
heard  in  the  pulpit  or  elsewThere  ;  Durbin,  a  man  of  not  only 
large  literary  but  scientific  attainments.  I  was  much  impressed 
by  one  of  Mr.  Durbin's  published  sermons  from  the  text,  "  We 
are  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,''  in  which  he  presented,  in 
a  manner  which  would  have  done  honor  to  one  who  had  made 
the  human  form  a  life-long  study,  an  argument  in  favor  of 
Divine  creative  power,  as  illustrated  in  man's  ph}rsical  mechan 
ism  One  who  listened  to  that  sermon  said  to  me  that  as  Mr. 
Durbin,  with  the  finger  of  his  right  hand  upon  his  left  wrist, 
described  the  regular  but  intermittent  flow  of  the  blood  through 
the  system  by  the  action  of  the  heart,  he  could  feel  the  beating 
of  his  own  heart  as  though  he  had  within  him  a  steam  engine. 
Mr.  Simpson,  afterwards  Bishop  Simpson,  was  then  just  begin 
ning  to  exhibit  his  wonderful  power  as  a  pulpit  orator.  lie 
has  recently  gone  to  his  reward,  but  he  has  left  behind  him 
undying  fame  as  a  preacher,  and  a  reputation  for  unsullied 
virtue,  to  be  treasured  up  as  a  precious  legacy  by  the  great 
church  of  which  he  was  a  brilliant  ornament. 

While  the  Church  could  point  to  such  men  as  its  members 
(they  were  few  in  numbers  and  seem  not  to  be  increasing),  the 
circuit  riders  were,  as  a  class,  uneducated  men  who  made  up  in 
industry  and  zeal  what  they  lacked  in  culture.  There  was  no 
settlement  in  the  broad  West,  however  isolated  and  remote, 
where  they  were  not  found.  Ever  in  the  van,  pioneers  in  fact 
of  the  onward  wave  of  civilization,  regardless  of  their  personal 
comfort,  perfectly  at  home  in  the  cabins  of  the  first  settlers  or 
the  wigwams  of  the  Indians,  they  exemplified  in  their  lives 
the  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  which  were  enjoined  upon 
His  followers  by  their  Divine  Master.  Ignorant  of  books, 
they  were  adepts  in  the  study  of  human  nature.  By  constant 


THE   CIRCUIT    RIDERS.  77 

practice  they  became  fluent  speakers ;  some  of  them  ora 
tors.  Dauntless,  zealous,  well  nigh  homeless,  with  no  expecta 
tion  or  hope  of  reward  in  this  life,  they  combined,  as  did  the 
early  Jesuits,  the  heroism  of  crusaders  with  the  fortitude  of 
martyrs. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

By  the  Advice  of  General  Howard,  I  go  Northward — Eagle  Village — First 
Night  in  a  Cabin — Its  Occupants — Ten-mile  Ride  to  Breakfast — The 
Village  of  Frankfort — Military  Company  in  Training — Delphi — The  Wa- 
bash — Adventure  with  a  Rattlesnake— Logan  sport — Lewis  Cass — John 
Tipton — South  Bend — Charles  Crocker -Samuel  C.  Sample — Rolling 
Prairie — Laporte — First  Sitting  there  of  the  Circuit  Court — The  Court 
room — Resolve  to  go  to  Fort  Wayne — Goshen — J.  L.  Jernegan — Fort 
Wayne,  its  Situation  and  Appearance — Rapid  Growth  of  the  Country. 

HAD  I  not  (fortunately,  as  it  turned  out,)  met  General 
Howard,  the  United  States  District  Attorne}^  for  the 
State,  I  should  have  made  my  home  in  one  of  the  southern 
counties  of  Indiana.  I  had  been  advised  to  do  so  by  Mr. 
De\vey,  and  had  concluded  to  follow  his  advice,  when,  accident 
ally  meeting  General  Howard,  I  was  asked  by  him  whether  I 
intended  to  remain  in  Indianapolis  or  to  drive  my  stakes  in 
some  other  part  of  the  State.  I  told  him  what  advice  I  had 
received,  and  that  I  had  about  made  up  my  mind  to  follow  it. 
"  Don't  do  it,"  said  he.  "  There  are  some  nice  fellows  in  the 
southern  counties,  but  the  people  generally  have  come  from 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  or  the  Carolinas  ;  they  are  good  enough 
people  in  their  way,  but  having  been  raised  in  the  States  in 
which  slavery  exists,  they  are  not  enterprising  ;  their  ways  are 
not  your  wa}rs  :  you  would  not  like  them.  Go  north."  "  But," 
replied  I,  "  northern  Indiana  is  mostly  a  wilderness ;  what  in  the 
world  could  a  young  lawyer  find  to  do  there  ?  "  "  No  matter 
if  it  is  a  wilderness,"  said  he ;  "  it  will  not  long  be  a  wilderness. 
It  is,"  he  continued,  "  the  most  inviting  country  I  have  ever 
seen,  and  it  will  soon  be  filled  by  people  from  New  York  and 
New  England — the  right  kind  of  people  to  develop  it.  There 
is  Lake  Michigan  on  its  northern  boundary,  and  a  canal  is  being 
built  which  will  unite  the  "Wabash  with  Lake  Erie.  I  charge 


A    RIDE   THROUGH   THE   FOREST.  79 

nothing  for  it,  but  my  advice  to  you  is,  look  at  least  at  the  north 
ern  part  of  the  State  before  settling  clown  anywhere  else."  I 
thought  the  matter  over,  and  concluded  that  I  would,  at  all 
events,  see  the  country  that  General  Howard  thought  so  highly 
of  before  taking  a  step  that  was  likely  to  be  so  important  to  me. 
The  next  morning,  therefore,  I  bought  a  horse,  saddle  and 
bridle,  exchanged  my  trunk  for  a  pair  of  saddle-bags,  and  after 
dinner  I  was  on  my  way  to  the  north.  As  I  was  quite  un 
accustomed  to  the  saddle,  I  thought  I  would  make  my  first 
day's  ride  an  easy  one,  and  spend  the<  night  at  a  place  called 
Eagle  Village,  which  was  said  to  be  about  eighteen  miles  from 
Indianapolis.  Fresh  from  New  England,  I  supposed  that 
nothing  would  be  called  a  village  that  did  not  contain  at 
least  a  church,  a  schoolrhouse,  a  tavern,  and  a  few  dwelling- 
houses.  In  this  I  was  soon  to  be  disappointed,  and  1  had 
not  been  long  in  the  West  before  I  discovered  that  there 
could  be  cities  in  which  there  were  no  people,  which  only 
existed  upon  paper  and  in  the  lands  selected  for  their  sites. 
Some  of  them  have  become  cities  in  fact ;  others  exist  only 
in  their  recorded  plats,  the  land  upon  which  they  were  laid 
off  having  been  converted  into  farms.  The  Michigan  road, 
through  which  in  after  years  I  had  many  a  hard  ride  with 
the  mud  so  deep  that  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  were  a  good 
day's  journey,  was  made  from  Indianapolis  to  Lake  Michigan 
by  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  lands  granted  to  the  State  by 
the  Miami  tribe  of  Indians,  who  were  in  possession  of  a  con 
siderable  part  of  the  territory  through  which  it  ran.  Upon 
entering  upon  it  that  afternoon,  I  perceived  that  nothing  had 
been  done  to  make  it  a  road  except  to  open  a  way  through  the 
forest.  It  was  perfectly  straight,  and  the  noble  trees,  nearly  a 
hundred  feet  in  height,  stood  on  either  side  of  it  like  a  protecting 
wall.  The  birds  were  singing  blithely,  and  although  my  horse 
was  my  only  companion,  the  wildness  and  novelty  of  the  scene 
acted  upon  me  like  a  tonic.  Long,  long  years  have  inter 
vened  ;  a  long  and  busy  life  is  nearly  ended,  and  yet  the  exhil- 


80  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

aration  which  I  experienced  as  I  rode  through  that  magnificent 
forest  comes  back  to  me  as  freshly  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday. 

The  sun  was  just  going  down  when  I  met  a  man  on  foot  of 
whom  I  inquired  how  far  it  was  to  Eagle  Village.  "  Why 
stranger,"  he  replied,  "  I  reckon  you  are  in  it  now."  On  the 
left-hand  side  of  the  road  in  a  clearing  of  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
acres,  there  was  a  single  cabin  built  of  logs  and  chinked  with 
clay,  and  near  it  what  was  intended  for  a  stable,  built  likewise 
of  logs,  but  of  smaller  ones  laid  one  upon  another  without  chink 
ing,  so  that  it  afforded  but  little  shelter  from  the  weather. 
"  Do  you  call  this  a  \7illage  ?  "  "I  don't  call  it  anything,  but 
that's  what  they  call  it  here,"  was  the  reply.  This,  then,  was 
Eagle  Tillage,  and  the  cabin,  the  tavern  in  which  I  was  to 
spend  the  night.  u  How  far  to  the  next  house?  "  was  my  next 
question.  Taking  off  his  hat  and  scratching  his  head,  the 
traveller  hesitated  for  some  time,  as  if  he  were  calculating  the 
distance  he  had  walked,  and  then  replied,  "  About  ten  miles, 
as  near  as  I  can  jedge."  Ten  miles  was  too  far  for  me  to  ride 
at  night,  so  I  thanked  the  traveller  for  his  kindness  and  rode 
up  to  the  door  of  the  cabin,  where  I  was  met  by  a  well-grown 
girl  whose  reddish  jeans  gown  covered  her  from  her  neck  to  a 
little  below  her  knees,  when  the  following  dialogue  took  place: 

u  Can  I  stay  here  for  the  night,  my  girl?" 

"  I  ain't  your  girl  that  I  knows  of,  but  we  sometimes  keeps 
strangers,  and  I  reckon  you  can  stay  here  if  you  like." 

'"  Is  there  anybody  to  take  care  of  my  horse  ? " 

"  Xo,  sir ;  the  rest  of  the  folks  are  out  in  the  clearing." 

"  Have  you  any  corn  or  oats  ? " 

"  No,  sir ;  we  don't  keep  any  of  them  things  yet.  We  are 
new-comers  here,  but  you  will  find  some  fodder  in  the  loft," 
pointing  to  the  stable.  So  to  the  stable  I  went,  took  the  sad 
dle  from  my  horse,  freed  his  mouth  from  the  bit,  tied  him  as 
best  I  could  with  the  rein,  and  climbed  up  to  the  loft  by  the 
open  logs,  where  I  found  the  fodder — cornstalks  blackened  and 
mouldy  by  exposure  to  the  weather.  It  was  poor  fare  for  my 


A    PIONEER   INN.  81 

horse,  but  his  exercise  had  given  to  him,  as  it  had  to  his  mas 
ter,  a  good  appetite,  and  he  took  hold  of  the  fodder  with  a 
relish  that  surprised  me.  As  there  was  no  curr}Tcomb,  nor 
even  straw  to  rub  him  down  with,  I  used  some  of  the  fodder 
instead.  His  grooming  that  evening  was  decidedly  imperfect. 
Having  thus  taken  care  of  my  horse,  I  entered  the  cabin.  It 
consisted  of  a  single  but  good-sized  room,  with  a  large  tire- 
place,  the  chimney  for  which  was  on  the  outside.  The  walls 
had  been  whitewashed,  and  were  adorned  with  female  wear 
ing  apparel  instead  of  pictures.  Two  large  beds  at  the  sides  of 
the  room  and  a  small  cot  in  a  corner,  a  half-dozen  splint-bot 
tomed  chairs,  a  bureau  with  a  ten-by-twelve  family  looking- 
glass  hanging  over  it,  constituted  the  furniture  of  the  room. 
Outside  of  the  cabin  there  was  a  small  shed  in  which  was  a 
cooking-stove.  It  did  not  take  me  long  to  make  a  survey  of  the 
premises,  and  I  had  not  long  to  wait  before  the  "  rest  of  the 
folks  "  began  to  make  their  appearance.  First  came  the  father, 
a  tall  raw-boned  man  with  a  face  bronzed  by  exposure,  but 
expressive  of  self-satisfaction  and  good  humor,  who  shook  my 
hand  warmly  and  bade  me  welcome.  Xext  sauntered  in  a 
couple  of  lusty  little  boys ;  then  three  girls,  the  youngest 
about  sixteen  and  the  oldest  twenty-one,  all  dressed  like 
their  sister,  but  with  skirts  a  little  longer.  They  were  sun 
burnt,  but  not  bad  looking.  Last  came  the  mother,  prema 
turely  old,  with  that  woebegone  expression  which  I  noticed 
upon  the  faces  of  most  of  the  wives  and  mothers  whom  I  met 
in  my  subsequent  travels  through  the  West.  It  is  they  who 
feel  most  severely  the  labors  and  privations  of  frontier  life. 
Their  work  is  never  intermittent.  With  no  help  until  their 
children  are  old  enough  to  help  them,  without  proper  medical 
attendance  when  ill,  with  a  great  deal  to  annoy  and  very  little 
to  encourage  them,  they  are  old  before  they  have  reached 
middle  age.  Fortunate  was  it  for  Ohio  and  Indiana  that  their 
forest  lands  were  opened,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  culti 
vated,  before  much  was  known  about  the  prairies  further  west. 


82      ME^  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 


There  is,  it  is  true,  very  little  enticing  about  the  prairies; 
beautiful  in  the  spring,  in  the  later  summer  months  and  in 
autumn  they  are  scorched  by  the  sun  ;  in  winter  cold,  bleak, 
cheerless.  Still,  as  only  the  plough  and  harrow  are  needed  to 
bring  the  prairie  lands  under  cultivation,  and  their  soil  is  as 
rich  as  that  of  the  timber  lands,  although  perhaps  less  durable 
and  less  fitted  for  a  variety  of  crops,  they  afford  great  advan 
tages  to  the  first  settlers.  If  they  had  been  known  a  little 
earlier,  a  great  many  of  what  are  now  the  best  farms  in  the 
States  I  have  named  might  not  have  existed. 

My  first  meal  in  a  cabin  was  not  attractive.  It  consisted  of 
corn  dodgers,  fried  pork,  and  something  they  called  tea,  which  I 
should  never  have  supposed  to  be  tea  by  its  taste  ;  but  I  was 
full  of  health  and  hungry,  and  rather  enjoyed  the  fare,  coarse 
as  it  was.  After  supper  I  had  a  talk  with  the  head  of  the 
household  on  a  bench  outside  the  cabin,  in  the  course  of  which, 
among  other  things,  I  learned  that  he  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  and  that  after  marrying  he  had  started  writh  his  wife 
for  Western  Pennsylvania.  He  was  not  inclined  to  stop  in 
Virginia.  He  had  had,  he  said,  enough  of  a  slave  State,  wrhere 
a  poor  white  man  was  not  considered  as  good  as  a  black  one. 
He  remained  in  Pennsylvania  five  or  six  years,  until  the  people 
became  too  thick  for  game,  when  he  moved  to  Ohio,  spent 
some  years  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  as  many  more  in  the 
Avestern,  and  thence  he  had  come  to  Indiana.  "  I  have  been," 
said  he,  "  a  kinder  rolling  stone,  but  I  am  a  good  deal  better 
off  than  I  was  when  I  started.  I  own  eighty  acres  of  good 
land,  twenty  acres  cleared  ;  a  yoke  of  oxen,  a  mule,  a  cart  and 
some  farming  tools,  and  besides  as  good  a  rifle  as  you  ever  laid 
eyes  on.  And  then,"  continued  he,  "  we  have  all  the  time 
been  peopling  the  earth,  as  the  Bible  says  we  ought  to.  We 
have  eight  children  ;  two  of  the  boys  have  gone  to  work  in 
the  city,  and  I  reckon  that  the  old  woman  is  good  for  two  or 
three  more.  It  has  been  pretty  hard  for  her,  but  I,"  said  he, 
straightening  himself  up,  "  am  as  hearty  as  a  buck.  I  sha'n't 


PRIMITIVE   PROMISCUITY.  83 

stay  here  long  if  I  find  anybody  to  buy  me  out.  You  see, 
stranger,  I  am  what  they  call  a  pierneer,  and  pierneers  oughtn't 
to  stay  long  in  the  same  place."  Here  our  talk  was  interrupted 
by  an  announcement  from  one  of  the  girls  that  it  was  bed 
time.  Upon  going  in  I  perceived  that  trundle-beds  had  been 
rolled  out  from  under  the  large  beds,  and  that  the  floor  was 
pretty  well  covered  by  the  sleeping  arrangements.  Pointing 
to  the  small  cot  in  the  corner,  my  host  merely  said,  "  Stranger, 
that's  yourn,"  and  blew  out  the  candle  so  that  I  could  not  see, 
if  I  had  been  inquisitive,  how  the  women  disposed  of  them 
selves.  I  recollect  only  that  in  an  incredibly  short  time  the 
room  was  as  still  as  if  nobody  was  in  it.  My  bed  was  a  hard 
one  (I  could  not  see  whether  it  was  clean  or  dirty),  but  novel 
as  the  circumstances  wrere,  I  slept  soundly.  In  the  morning, 
just  as  the  light  began  to  stream  through  the  windows,  I  was 
awakened  by  the  moving  back  of  the  trundle-beds,  and  I  was 
soon  left  to  dress  by  myself.  Upon  the  bench  on  which  I  sat 
in  the  evening  there  was  a  tin  basin,  by  it  a  bucket  of  pure 
spring  water  (a  true  pioneer  never  drives  his  stakes  where 
there  is  not  a  spring),  and  hanging  upon  a  nail  in  one  of  the 
logs  a  coarse  but  clean  towel.  Having  washed,  paid  my  bill 
(fifty  cents),  shaken  hands  with  my  host,  who  wished  me  well, 
I  mounted  my  horse,  which  had  been  brought  to  the  door,  and 
made  my  best  bow  to  the  girls,  who  came  to  the  door  to  see  me 
off.  Such  was  my  first  experience  in  a  log  cabin.  I  relate  it 
because  it  was  a  type  of  subsequent  ones. 

The  rays  of  the  risen  sun  were  just  touching  the  tops  of 
the  tallest  trees  as  I  started.  The  air  wras  cool  and  invigorat 
ing,  and  my  ten-mile  ride  to  breakfast,  enlivened  as  it  was  by 
the  singing  of  the  birds,  with  which  the  trees  seemed  to  be 
alive,  was  an  exceedingly  pleasant  one.  There  is  nothing 
which  gives  one  a  keener  appetite  than  a  ten-mile  ride  to 
breakfast.  The  house  at  which  I  stopped  was  quite  preten 
tious,  two  stories  high  and  of  hewn  logs,  with  a  sign  over  the 
door,  "  Entertainment  for  Man  and  Beast."  My  breakfast  was 


84      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

a  good  one :  ham  and  eggs,  cakes  with  maple  molasses,  and 
excellent  coffee.  My  horse  fared  equally  well,  for  here  he  had 
hay  and  corn  instead  of  fodder.  My  bill  was  thirty-seven 
cents.  Cheap  travelling,  thought  I,  as  I  rode  on  again  along 
the  wide  opening  through  the  forest.  For  dinner,  I  stopped 
at  Kirk's,  a  tavern  well  known  for  many  years  after  for  its 
good  fare.  This  proved  to  be  the  end  of  the  cut-out  Michigan 
road  ;  so,  after  receiving  directions  from  Mr.  Kirk,  I  turned 
to  the  left,  and  early  in  the  afternoon  I  reached  Frankfort, 
one  of  the  towns  which  were  just  coming  into  existence  in 
that  part  of  Indiana.  Before  I  came  in  sight  of  the  town,  I 
heard  the  inspiring  sound  of  a  fife  and  drum,  and  as  I  rode  in 
I  perceived  that  a  company  of  thirty  or  forty  backwoodsmen 
were  going  through  a  military  drill.  Hardy  looking  men  thev 
were ;  many  of  them  doubtless  proved  good  fighters  in  the 
Mexican  \var,  but  the  oddity  of  their  appearance  who  could 
describe  ?  I  was  reminded  of  this  training  when  I  read  Mr. 
Corwin's  speech  describing  the  regiment  in  Michigan,  to  which 
I  have  already  referred.  A  few  of  the  men  had  rifles,  but  the 
most  of  them  carried  sticks  instead  of  guns.  The  captain  . 
wore  a  uniform  which  had  seen  better  days  and  had  evidently 
been  made  for  a  smaller  man.  His  trousers  did  not  come  to 
his  shoes  by  three  or  four  inches,  and  the  cuffs  of  his  coat  did 
not  reach  his  hands  by  about  the  same  distance.  He  had 
epaulettes  upon  his  shoulders  and  a  glistening  blade  in  his 
hand,  which  he  waved  in  the  air  as  he  gave  the  word  of  com 
mand,  and  the  scabbard  of  which  dangled  between  his  legs  as 
he  strode  before  his  company.  Of  the  rank  and  file,  not  one 
was  in  uniform,  and  no  two  of  them  were  dressed  alike. 

As  soon  as  I  was  observed — "  Look  there,  boss  !  "  called  out 
one  of  the  men  to  the  captain  ;  "  there  comes  a  stranger ;  let's 
have  a  drink."  The  captain  was  not  averse  to  the  proposition. 
The  company  was  dismissed.  Whiskey  was  cheap,  and  I  stood 
the  treat.  "  He  looks  kinder  stuck  up,"  said  one  in  an  under 
tone,  "  but  he  is  a  d d  good  fellow,  anyhow."  The  whiskey 


FIRST   VIEW    OF   THE   WABASH.  85 

produced  good  feeling  in  the  motley  crowd,  and  I  was  for 
once  the  hero  of  the  hour.  So  much  for  whiskey.  The  next 
morning  bright  and  early  I'  was  on  my  way  to  Delphi — which 
was  to  be  my  next  stopping  place — over  the  country  road  that 
had  been  used  by  wagons,  but  how  wagons  could  be  hauled 
over  it  in  rainy  seasons  I  could  not  imagine.  It  ran  through 
sloughs  which  must  have  been  at  times  bottomless,  and  over 
brooks  (creeks  they  are  always  called  in  the  West),  too  deep  to 
be  forded  after  heavy  rains,  but  it  was  a  good  road  for  a  horse 
man,  and  I  reached  Delphi  early  in  the  afternoon.  Delphi  has 
since  become  a  town  of  considerable  importance,  but  then  it 
was  about  as  ugly  and  unpromising  as  a  town  could  be.  The 
next  day's  ride  took  me  to  Logansport ;  a  rather  long  ride  it 
was,  but  a  charming  one.  Avoiding  the  wagon  road.  I  fol 
lowed  an  Indian  trail  that  led  along  the  banks  of  the  Wa- 
bash,  which  had  not  then  been  deprived  of  any  of  their  natu 
ral  beauty  by  either  freshets  or  the  axe  of  the  settler.  The 
river  was  bank-full.  Its  water  was  clear,  and  as  it  sparkled 
in  the  sunlight  or  reflected  the  branches  of  the  trees  which 
hung  over  it,  I  thought  it  was  more  beautiful  than  even  the 
Ohio.  It  was  flowing  on  just  as  it  had  been  for  ages,  undis 
turbed  by  anything  but  the  canoe  of  the  Indian.  In  imagina 
tion  it  is  before  me  now,  not  picturesque,  but  charming  in  its 
quiet  beauty. 

I  saw  neither  man  nor  beast  in  my  long  day's  ride,  and 
met  with  no  adventure,  unless  the  killing  of  a  rattlesnake  might 
be  called  one.  Riding  briskly  along  in  the  afternoon,  I  heard 
something  which  sounded  like  the  chirping  of  a  locust,  and 
looking  ahead  I  saw,  at  a  short  distance  before  me,  a  large 
snake  leisurely  moving  across  the  path.  As  I  approached  him 
he  coiled  himself  up,  and  with  his  eyes  flashing  and  his  rattles 
sounding,  he  seemed  to  be  daring  me  to  come  on.  As  the 
path  was  not  wide  enough  to  allow  my  horse  to  pass  without 
danger  of  being  struck  by  the  venomous  reptile,  I  was  com 
pelled  either  to  turn  back  or  to  contend  for  the  right  of  way. 


86      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

I  was  in  a  dilemma  :  I  could  not  go  back,  I  dared  not  go  on ; 
but,  as  my  good  luck  would  have  it,  upon  looking  around  I  saw 
supported  by  a  tree  a  pole  resembling  a  fishing-rod  about  an 
inch  in  thickness  and  ten  or  eleven  feet  in  length,  which  I 
seized  and  advanced  to  the  encounter.  The  reptile,  probably 
not  understanding  the  advantage  I  had  gained,  held  his 
"•round,  and  with  his  head  and  tail  slightlv  raised  seemed  to 

O  o  •/ 

be  waiting  for  me  to  come  within  his  striking  distance.     I 

O  O 

urged  my  horse  forward  by  the  free  use  of  the  spur  (he  did 
not  like  the  appearance  of  the  enemy  any  better  than  I  did), 
until  I  was  near  enough  to  strike.  One  blow  from  my  pole 
untwined  his  coils,  and  that  followed  by  another  and  another 
made  me  master  of  the  field.  The  snake  was  some  four  or 
five  feet  in  length,  with  a  brown  back  and  yellow  belly,  the 
largest  I  have  ever  seen,  and  the  only  one  which  I  have  known 
to  invite  an  attack.  Game  was  he,  and  fatal  would  have  been 
his  bite  if  he  could  have  struck  me  or  my  horse.  It  was  not  a 
brave  feat  that  I  had  performed,  for  I  have  to  confess  that  I 
was  afraid  to  dismount  and  meet  my  enemy  on  equal  ground, 
but  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  something  of  an  exploit  to  kill  a 
rattlesnake. 

Logansport  is  situated  in  the  triangle  formed  by  the  junc 
tion  of  Little  River  with  the  Wabash.  Hon.  John  Tipton, 
one  of  the  early  United  States  Senators  from  Indiana,  was  its 
proprietor.  He  had  been  for  many  years  an  Indian  agent. 
Perhaps  he  held  the  same  office  when  I  first  met  him.  It  wras 
charged,  unjustly  perhaps,  that  he  secured  his  seat  in  the  Sen 
ate  by  the  skilful  use  of  the  patronage  of  his  agency  with  some 
of  the  leading  members  of  the  State  Legislature.  Even  in 
those  days  the  power  of  official  patronage  was  well  understood, 
and  there  were  no  public  offices  in  the  West  in  which  so  much 
power  was  lodged  as  in  Indian  agencies.  As  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  find  an  honest  Indian  trader,  so  also  there 
were  very  few  officials  who  did  not  make  their  offices  subservi 
ent  to  their  personal  interests.  There  was,  however,  one  con- 


LEWIS    CASS.  87 

spicuous  exception.  Lewis  Cass  held  the  office  of  General 
Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  in  Michigan  for  many  years. 
During  that  period  he  negotiated  a  score  of  treaties  with  Indian 
tribes  by  which  he  might  have  enriched  himself  and  his  friends, 
but  so  uprightly  did  he  administer  his  trust  that  no  stain  ever 
rested  upon  his  reputation.  I  did  not  have  the  honor  of  an  inti 
mate  acquaintance  with  him,  but  I  knew  him  well  enough  to 
entertain  for  him  the  highest  respect.  Of  the  distinguished 
men  of  his  day  I  can  think  of  few,  if  any,  more  deserving  of 
high  honor  than  General  Cass.  As  a  soldier,  Secretary  of  Wai1, 
Minister  to  France,  Senator,  Secretary  of  State,  lie  exhibited 
qualities  of  a  very  high  character — learning,  executive  ability, 
diplomatic  skill,  graceful  oratory,  statesmanship.  He  failed  in 
his  highest  ambition,  as  did  his  compeers,  Clay  and  Webster, 
but  his  failure  neither  soured  his  temper  nor  weakened  his  zeal 
in  his  country's  service.  Disgusted  by  the  cowardice  or  treach 
ery  of  Hull,  under  whom  he  served  in  the  war  of  1812  with 
Great  Britain,  he  broke  his  sword  rather  than  surrender  it. 
Nearly  fifty  years  after  he  resigned  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State,  to  avoid  being  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  hesitating 
policy  of  his  chief,  Mr.  Buchanan,  which  he  was  unable  to 
direct.  Fortunately  for  himself  and  his  family,  he  had  bought 
in  1815  a  large  farm  near  the  village  of  Detroit.  The  village 
soon  became  a  town  and  city,  of  which  this  farm  became  an 
important  part.  Detroit  is  now  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
prosperous  cities  in  the  Union.  Thus,  by  the  investment  of  a 
few  thousand  dollars,  General  Cass  became  a  millionaire.  I 
have  thus  briefly  referred  to  him  because  he  was  one  of  my 
early  acquaintances  in  the  West,  and  because  during  his  long 
life  of  almost  continuous  public  service  there  is  nothing  in  his 
record  that  will  not  stand  the  test  of  the  severest  scrutiny. 

But  to  return  to  Logansport.  It  was  selected  by  General 
Tipton  for  a  town  site  on  account  of  its  water  power,  the 
improvement  of  which  has  contributed  largely  to  its  growth. 
It  has  become  one  of  the  flourishing  towns  of  the  State,  the 


88      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

centre  of  a  large  and  rapidly  increasing  business.  When  I  saw 
it  in  1833  its  population  would  have  been  numbered  by  scores 
instead  of  hundreds,  Canadian  French  seemingly  predominat 
ing.  I  remained  here  one  day,  spending  an  hour  with  General 
Tipton,  who  had  recently  removed  from  Fort  AVayne,  to  whom 
I  had  a  letter  of  introduction,  and  whom  I  found  to  be  a  man 
of  intelligence  and  full  of  energy — one  of  those  far-seeing, 
hardv  men  who  led  the  van  in  the  settlement  of  the  West.  In 
the  course  of  my  conversation  I  ventured  to  ask  him  if  he 
would  advise  me  in  regard  to  a  location.  On  this  subject  he 
was  non-committal.  "  There  are,"  said  he,  "  two  subjects  upon 
which  I  never  advise :  matrimony,  and  the  place  to  be  selected 
for  a  home.  These  are  so  much  matters  of  taste,  that  in  regard 
to  them  every  man  must  decide  for  himself.  Keep  your  eyes 
open,"  said  he,  "and  don't  be  in  a  hurry  in  deciding."  From 
Logansport  I  went  directly  north  to  South  Bend.  North  of 
the  Wabash,  the  face  of  the  country  was  quite  different  from 
that  over  which  I  had  been  travelling.  Instead  of  the  dense 
and  almost  impenetrable  forest,  the  land  was  covered  by  large 
spreading  trees,  free  from  underbrush,  so  that  a  horseman 
could  ride  under  their  lofty  branches  as  upon  the  open  plain. 
These  timber  lands  were  called  "  oak  openings."  In  the  course 
of  my  ride,  however,  I  passed  over  a  wide  belt  in  which  walnut 
trees  predominated  over  the  oaks.  This  walnut  belt  extended 
east  and  west  through  the  State.  Walnut  lumber  was  not 
then  much  used,  and  if  it  had  been  there  were  no  facilities  for 
taking  it  to  market  from  the  wilds  of  Indiana.  Nearly  all  of 
these  fine  old  trees,  oaks  as  well  as  walnuts,  have  disappeared, 
the  larger  part  having  been  used  for  fencing  rails  or  burnt 
upon  the  ground.  There  are  splendid  farms  where  they  stood, 
but  to  make  them  many  thousands  of  walnut  trees  were 
destroyed,  a  single  one  of  which,  had  it  been  left  standing, 
would  now  be  worth  more  than  an  acre  of  the  cultivated  land. 
This  destruction  of  the  forests  is  still  going  on  in  other  parts 
of  the  United  States,  and  unless  means  are  used  to  prevent  it 


EARLY   DAYS    OF   CHARLES    CROCKER.  89 

it  will  be  continued,  until  within  another  generation  the  United 
States  will  be  as  destitute  of  forests  as  is  France  or  Germany. 
Between  Logansport  and  South  Bend  there  were  but  two 
cabins — one  (the  best  I  had  seen)  upon  the  Tippecanoe,  the 
other  about  twenty  miles  further  north,  where  I  spent  the 
night.  At  South  Bend  a  court-house  had  been  built,  and  near 
it  there  were  a  few  log  houses  and  a  tavern.  It  has  become  a 
town  of  considerable  importance.  It  can  boast  of  having  in  it, 
or  near  it,  the  most  extensive  "  wagon  shops"  in  the  world. 
Studabaker's  wagons  are  well  known  throughout  the  "West. 
So  well  established  is  their  reputation  that  they  command  a 
higher  price  than  equally  good  ones  from  any  other  factor}'. 
In  speaking  of  South  Bend,  I  am  reminded  that  Charles 
Crocker,  one  of  the  millionaires  of  San  Francisco,  whose 
daughter's  recent  wedding  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  that 
has  ever  been  witnessed  in  the  United  States,  went  from  that 
town  to  California  in  1849,  reaching  Sacramento  in  August, 
1850.  I  did  not  know  Mr.  Crocker  when  he  lived  in  Indiana, 
but  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him  in  San  Francisco  in 
1876,  and  hearing  from  his  own  lips  a  brief  but  interesting 
account  of  his  journey  over  the  plains  with  his  family,  in  a 
covered  wagon,  drawn  by  two  horses,  of  which  he  was  the 
driver.  His  entire  fortune  then  consisted  of  his  horses  and 
wagon,  a  couple  of  beds,  some  cooking  utensils,  and  a  few 
dollars  in  money.  Samuel  C.  Sample,  a  Circuit  judge,  was 
then  living  in  South  Bend.  His  salary  was  but  a  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  but  he  was  economical,  industrious  and  tasteful, 
and  had  been  able  to  build  a  pretty  little  cottage  and  to  beau 
tify  its  surroundings  with  shrubs  and  rapidly  growing  trees. 
Mr.  Crocker  was  a  friend  of  Judge  Sample,  with  whom,  as  he 
informed  me,  he  spent  an  hour  of  the  evening  before  he  com 
menced  his  long  and  wearisome  journey.  "  As  I  left  the 
cottage,"  he  said,  "I  could  not  help  feeling  envious  of  my 
friend,  and  I  said  to  him,  that  if  I  were  as  well  fixed  as  he 
was  I  should  be  content.  On  my  way  over  the  plains,"  he 


90      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

continued,  "  I  never  stopped  at  night,  dust-covered  and  weary, 
after  a  hard  day's  travel,  without  having  the  vision  of  that 
beautiful  little  cottage  before  me,  and  comparing  my  doleful 
condition  with  that  of  my  friend  Sample."  It  must  indeed 
have  been  a  trying  journey,  such  as  only  a  man  of  nerve 
would  have  undertaken,  and  a  man  of  vigorous  health  could 
have  endured.  Mr.  Crocker  was  not  only  brave  and  hardy, 
he  was  enterprising  and  far-seeing,  sound  in  judgment  and 
able  in  execution.  He  made  money  rapidly  from  the  start  in 
well-managed  enterprises,  and  with  Leland  Stanford,  C.  P. 
Iluntington  and  Mark  Hopkins,  he  constructed  the  Central 
Pacific  Eailroad,  the  greatest  enterprise  of  the  time,  by  which 
he  and  his  associates  were  made  rich.  In  less  than  twenty 
years  from  the  time  he  left  South  Bend  Mr.  Crocker  had 
become  prominent  by  his  ability  and  enterprise,  and  able  from 
his  income  alone  to  buy  every  year  hundreds  of  such  places  as 
had  excited  Ifis  envy.  Rarely  indeed  has  there  been  such  a 
contrast  in  any  man's  life  as  in  that  of  Charles  Crocker  work 
ing  his  weary  way  over  the  plains,  with  all  his  possessions  in 
his  wagon,  and  Charles  Crocker  the  great  railroad  builder,  and 
twenty  times  over  millionaire,  of  California. 

The -Circuit  Court  had  just  completed  its  session  when  I 
reached  South  Bend,  and  had  adjourned  to  meet  the  day  fol 
lowing  at  Laporte,  the  adjoining  county  on  the  west.  So  the 
next  morning  I  turned  my  face  westward,  and  soon  came  in 
sight  of  the  first  prairie  I  had  seen.  To  my  disgust  it  was  low 
and  swampy,  looking  more  like  one  of  the  salt  marshes  of 
Maine  than  a  prairie  as  described  by  travellers.  It  had  been 
properly  named  the  "  wet  prairie,"  but  long  since  it  has 
been  drained  and  has  proved  to  be  more  fertile  than  its 
higher  arid  much  more  beautiful  neighbor.  Passing  by  this 
prairie  and  through  a  strip  of  woodland,  my  eyes  were  de 
lighted  by  a  picture  so  charming  that  the  recollection  of  it 
remains  indelibly  stamped  upon  my  memory.  One  who  -sees 
rolling  prairie  now  can  have  no  conception  of  its  appearance 


THE    PRAIRIE    AND    LAPORTE.  91 

before  it  had  been  touched  by  the  plough.  It  was  about  two 
miles  in  breadth,  and  ten  or  twelve  in  length.  Its  surface  was 
undulating  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  after  a  storm,  and  cov 
ered  with  luxuriant  grass  interspersed  with  wild  flowers  of 
every  hue.  Around  and  completely  inclosing  and  seemingly 
protecting  it  stood  the  forest.  I  have  seen  since  then  many 
parks  of  great  natural  and  artistic  beauty,  but  none  so  charm 
ing  as  was  the  rolling  prairie  on  that  bright  morning  in 
June.  A  short  distance  beyond  it,  but  separated  by  an  arm  of 
the  forest,  was  Laporte  prairie,  larger  but  inferior  in  beauty, 
which  received  its  name  from  the  fact  that  on  its  western 
border  there  was  an  opening  like  a  door  in  the  forest  which 
everywhere  else  inclosed  it.  ISTear  the  centre  of  the  prairie, 
upon  a  charming  little  lake,  was  the  county  seat,  Laporte.  So 
new  and  so  evidently  temporary  were  its  few  buildings,  that 
they  seemed  to  have  been  "  gotten  up  "  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  court,  which  was  to  sit  there  for  the  first  time.  The 
court-house — so-called — was  a  long  story-and-a-half  structure, 
with  a  battened  roof  arid  sides  of  slabs,  showing  that  there  was 
a  saw-mill  in  the  vicinity.  In  one  end  was  the  court-room, 
in  the  other  a  tavern,  and  between  them  a  grocery,  dignified 
with  the  name  of  saloon,  and  over  all  were  the  sleeping-rooms. 
The  court-room  was  simple  and  unique.  The  bench,  elevated 
three  or  four  feet,  with  a  floor  of  unplaned  boards,  was  sup 
ported  by  trestles,  and  upon  it  was  a  long  table,  behind  which 
sat  the  judges.  Below  the  bench  was  the  bar ;  on  one  side 
seats  for  the  jurors,  and  on  the  other  for  criminals.  The  halt' 
score  of  dwelling-houses  near  the  court-house  were  of  the  same 
material  and  knocked  together  in  the  same  manner.  I  had,  it 
seemed,  reached  the  point  in  Northern  Indiana  where  boards 
were  cheaper  than  logs.  The  county  had  been  organized  the 
winter  before,  and  as  court  was  sitting  in  it  for  the  first  time 
the  docket  was  a  light  one — three  or  four  civil  suits  and  an 
indictment  for  assault  and  battery,  all  of  which  were  speedily 
disposed  of. 


92      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

In  those  days  the  Indiana  circuit  courts  were  held  by  three 
judges — one  the  circuit  or  presiding  judge  appointed  by  the 
Governor  with  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  who  was  supposed  to 
be  learned  in  the  law  ;  and  two  elected  by  the  voters  of  the 
respective  counties  composing  the  judicial  district,  who  were 
not  lawyers,  and  whose  function  it  was  to  bring  common  sense 
to  bear  upon  legal  questions.  The  circuit  judge  bore  the  name 
of  Evarts  (if  a  relative  of  the  distinguished  William  M.,  he 
must  have  been  a  very  distant  one),  who  was  more  apt  at  story 
telling  than  in  deciding  legal  questions.  The  prosecuting  attor 
ney  was  quite  famous  for  his  fluent  display  of  bad  English, 
the  worst  I  think  that  ever  fell  from  mortal  lips.  lie  must 
have  had,  however,  a  good  deal  of  push  and  endurance  in  his 
composition,  for  in  184-8  he  walked  all  the  way  to  California,  and 
reached  Sacramento  shoeless  and  hatless.  There  were  two  or 
three  lawyers  present  who  followed  the  court  through  the  whole 
circuit  and  who  would  have  stood  high  in  any  court.  There 
were  then  in  the  Western  States  lawyers  of  established  repu 
tation  who,  as  the  saying  was,  "  rode  the  circuit,"  and  who  were 
employed  in  important  cases,  and  in  many  cases  which  were 
not  important,  by  reason  of  the  intricacies  of  the  legal  practice. 
Special  pleading  was  then  in  full  vogue.  A  lawyer  who  had 
not  made  "  Chitty  on  Pleading "  a  careful  study,  was  fre 
quently  bewildered  by  the  pleas  he  had  to  meet  in  the  simplest 
cases.  The  first  suit  which  I  commenced  after  I  hung  out  my 
shingle  at  Fort  Wayne  was  on  a  plain  note  of  hand  against 
which  there  was  no  real  defence ;  but  the  maker  of  the  note 
Avanted  more  time  than  the  holder  was  disposed  to  give  him, 
so  he  employed  a  young  attorney  to  stave  off  the  payment,  and 
the  young  attorney  called  to  his  assistance  one  of  these  circuit- 
riding  lawyers.  I  recollect  perfectly  well  how  embarrassed  I  was 
Avhen  I  found  that  I  had  to  answer  more  than  a  dozen  special 
pleas,  and  how  mortified  I  was  in  being  compelled  to  avail  my 
self  of  the  skill  in  special  pleading  of  another  of  these  travelling 
lawyers,  in  order  to  obtain  a  judgment  on  a  promissory  note. 


93 

This  practice  of  circuit-riding  by  prominent  lawyers  then 
prevailed,  and  for  some  years  after,  throughout  Indiana  and 
Illinois,  and  to  some  extent  in  Ohio.  Each  judicial  district 
embraced  a  large  number  of  counties,  and  there  were  very  few 
in  which  there  was  not  enough  business  to  justify  the  attend 
ance  of  abler  or  more  experienced  lawyers  than  were  usually 
found  there.  Some  lawyers  like  Charles  Dewey,  Samuel  C. 
Sample,  John  S.  Newman  of  Indiana,  and  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois,  frequently  travelled  on 
horseback  hundreds  of  miles  to  be  leading  counsel  in  impor 
tant  suits.  In  these  long  journeys  through  sections  but  sparsely 
settled  these  circuit-riding  lawyers  were  frequently  under  the 
necessity  of  stopping  for  the  night  at  cabins  lighted  only  by 
candles  or  by  blazing  wood  in  the  ample  fire-places,  and,  to 
while  away  the  time,  story-telling  was  resorted  to,  in  which 
not  only  memory  but  imagination  was  brought  into  lively  exer 
cise.  To  be  a  good  story-teller  under  such  circumstances  was 
a  necessary  qualification  for  agreeable  companionship.  To  this 
practice  is  the  country  indebted  for  many  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  apt 
and  original  stories. 

Laporte  was  a  beautiful  county,  but  the  population  was 
scanty,  and  I  thought  that  if  I  remained  there  it  would  be  a 
very  long  time  before  I  could  reasonably  expect  to  have  busi 
ness  enough  to  support  me  ;  so  the  next  day  after  the  adjourn 
ment  of  the  court  I  concluded  to  accept  a  kind  invitation 
which  I  had  received  from  Dr.  Lewis  G.  Thompson  (whom  I 
had  met  at  South  Bend),  to  visit  Fort  "Wayne,  of  the  outcome 
of  which  he  had  great  expectations.  Leaving  Laporte,  I  rode 
eastward^  over  a  rich  but  unsettled  country  to  Goshen,  the 
county  seat  of  Elkhart  County,  and  thence,  turning  southward, 
I  reached  Fort  Wayne  three  days  after  I  left  Laporte,  having 
spent  a  part  of  one  day  in  defending  a  man  who  was  on  trial 
for  an  alleged  malicious  trespass.  An  hour  or  two  after  I  had 
registered  my  name  in  the  tavern  at  Goshen,  and  told  one  of 
the  inquisitive  bystanders  that  I  was  a  lawyer  and  on  my  way 


94      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

to  Fort  Wayne,  I  received  a  note  signed  J.  L.  Jernigan,  request 
ing  me  to  call  at  the  house  of  the  writer  some  time  during  the 
evening.  The  house  at  which  I  called  was  made  of  logs  with 
a  single  room,  the  furniture  of  which  consisted  of  a  bed,  a  table, 
three  or  four  chairs  and  a  cooking-stove.  Mr.  Jernigan  was 
evidently  quite  ill.  His  only  attendant  was  a  good-looking 
and  neatly  dressed  young  woman,  whom  he  introduced  to  me 
as  Lis  wife.  After  apologizing  for  asking  me  to  come  to  his 
house,  he  informed  me  that  a  case  in  which  he  was  attorney 
for  the  defendant,  and  which  was  a  very  important  one  for  his 
client,  was  to  be  tried  the  next  day  ;  that  he  wTas  likely  to  be 
too  ill  to  leave  his  house,  and  that  having  just  learned  that  I 
was  in  town  and  a  lawyer,  he  had  taken  the  liberty  of  sending 
for  me  to  see  if  he  could  not  induce  me  to  take  charge  of  the 
defence.  He  explained  to  me  its  nature,  and  seemed  to  be 
greatly  relieved  when  I  said  to  him  that  I  would  comply  with 
his  request  and  do  the  best  I  could  for  his  client.  This  point 
having  been  settled,  we  talked  about  personal  matters,  and  I 
learned  that  he  and  his  wife  were  natives  of  Martha's  Vineyard. 
u  We  are,"  said  he,  "  starting  in  an  humble  way,  but  I  guess 
we  shall  come  out  right ; "  and  they  did,  as  far  as  success  in 
his  profession  was  regarded.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar  and  hard 
worker,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  acquired  high  reputation 
as  a  lawyer  in  Indiana,  which  he  sustained  when,  many  years 
afterwards,  he  became  a  member  of  the  New  York  Bar ;  but 
to  the  surprise  of  his  friends,  at  the  very  summit  of  his  pro 
fessional  career,  he  went  to  Europe,  and  when  I  last  saw  him 
he  was  living  in  Florence,  manifesting  no  interest  whatever  in 
the  affairs  of  his  country  or  the  welfare  of  his  family.  The 
case  in  which  I  appeared  for  the  defence  in  the  place  of  Mr. 
Jernigan  was  tried  the  next  day.  It  was  to  me  a  novel  pro 
ceeding — a  jury  trial  before  a  justice  of  the  peace.  The  evi 
dence  was  decidedly  against  the  defendant,  but  the  sympathies 
of  the  jurors  were  in  his  favor,  and  to  my  great  satisfaction 
their  verdict  was  "Not  guilty."  My  fee  was  small — (ten 


A   MAGNIFICENT   WILDERNESS.  95 

dollars),  but  it  was  very  acceptable  in  the  low  state  of  my 
finances. 

Fort  Wayne  was  about  as  uninviting  in  every  respect 
except  its  site  as  any  of  the  towns  through  which  I  had  passed, 
but  it  proved  to  be  the  end  of  my  journey,  which  had  been 
long  and  solitary,  but  by  no  means  lonesome  or  tedious.  The 
country  over  which  I  had  travelled  was  not  picturesque ;  no 
hills  to  relieve  its  flatness,  few  streams  to  diversify  the  scenery. 
It  was  simply  a  magnificent  wilderness,  mostly  covered  with 
lofty  trees  of  almost  countless  varieties.  Nevertheless  there 
was  something  in  my  long  and  solitary  ride  that  prevented 
wearinesfc  and  produced  an  exhilaration  of  spirits  which  I  had 
never  before  experienced.  '•  There  is  society  where  none  in 
trudes,"  and  there  is  more  music  in  the  singing  of  birds  than 
in  the  roar  of  the  sea.  It  was  a  country  peculiarly  adapted  to 
the  wants  and  habits  of  Indians.  Its  climate  was  mild,  and  it 
abounded  with  all  kinds  of  game.  It  is  not  strange  that  in 
many  cases  force  was  required  to  remove  from  it  these  natives 
of  the  country,  and  that  to  them  the  prairie  country  (now 
Kansas  and  Nebraska)  to  which  they  and  other  tribes  were 
removed  seemed  to  be  a  desert.  Little  did  I  think  as  I  rode 
mile  after  mile  without  seeing  even  a  dot  of  civilization,  and 
pondered  the  question,  Where  are  the  people  to  possess  and 
cultivate  this  extensive  wilderness  to  come  from? — little  did  I 
think  that  before  I  had  reached  middle  age,  it  would  become 
the  home  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  enterprising  and  thrifty 
men  ;  that  wave  after  wave  of  immigration  would  sweep  over 
it,  to  take  possession  of  vast  regions  beyond,  then  unknown 
except  by  the  name  of  the  North  western  Territory ;  that 
before  I  had  become  old  the  invading  flood  would  move  on 
over  the  great  desert,  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  Sierras, 
and  create  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean  States  rivalling  in  wealth 
and  population  many  of  their  Atlantic  sisters ;  that  the  Pa 
cific  Ocean  would  be  the  western  boundary,  as  the  Atlantic 
was  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  great  republic ;  and  what  is 


96      MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

stranger  still,  that  these  oceans  would  be  brought  into  proxim 
ity  by  lines  of  railway. 

In  recalling  the  geographical,  commercial,  and  agricultural 
condition  of  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  in  1833,  and 
comparing  that  condition  with  what  it  now  is,  the  changes  that 
have  taken  place  seem  too  strange  to  be  real.  Then  Indiana 
was  a  frontier  State ;  Michigan  a  territory  embracing  with 
imperfectly  defined  boundaries  the  extensive  region  which  in 
cludes  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minnesota  and  Southern  Dakota.  Then 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  were  only  known  as  a  country  to  which 
the  Indian  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi  could  be  removed  in 
order  that  they  might  live  without  being  molested  by  intru 
sive  white  men.  Then  Galena  was  the  chief  town  in  Illinois, 
Chicago  little  more  than  a  hamlet.  Then  San  Francisco  was 
only  visited  by  whale  ships  ;  the  Columbia,  a  river  whose  deep 
waters  had  very  rarely  been  disturbed  by  vessels  of  any  kind 
from  the  time  of  its  exploration  by  Lewis  and  Clark.  Then 
scarcely  a  bushel  of  wheat  or  a  barrel  of  flour  from  what  is 
now  the  great  grain-producing  country  of  the  world  was  sent 
to  the  Atlantic  States  or  to  Europe,  which  did  not  go  by  New 
Orleans.  Then  west  of  Pennsylvania  railroads  had  not  been 
contemplated.  Then  the  labor-saving  farming  implements  now 
in  use,  and  without  the  aid  of  which  millions  of  acres  now 
under  cultivation  would  have  remained  a  wilderness,  had  not 
been  invented.  Then  there  were  no  mowers,  no  reapers,  no 
threshers,  all  of  which  are  now  indispensable  to  profitable 
husbandry.  East  of  the  Alleghanies  the  geographical  changes 
were  unimportant,  but  the  new  life  with  which  the  world 
seemed  to  be  infused  with  the  incoming  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury  was  showing  itself  there  with  equal  vigor.  Nearly  all 
the  great  enterprises  of  every  kind  which  have  contributed  so 
much  to  the  comfort  of  the  people,  and  added  so  enormously  to 
the  national  wealth,  have  been  undertaken  since  I  left  New 
England.  Besides  the  great  undertakings  such  as  water-works, 
steamships,  rolling-mills,  tramways,  telegraphs,  telephones,  etc., 


INVENTIONS    OF   THE   PAST   FIFTY    YEARS.  97 

etc.,  what  an  immense  variety  of  articles  for  family  use  have 
been  devised  !  It  is  within  this  period  that  such  indispensable 
articles  as  cooking  ranges,  furnaces,  and  even  lucifer  matches, 
have  come  into  use.  Indeed  I  can  hardly  think  of  anything 
now  regarded  as  essential  to  national  progress  or  domestic 
convenience  and  comfort  which  has  not  been  the  product  of 
the  last  half  century. 
7 


CHAPTER  X. 

Situation  of  Fort  Wayne — French  Catholic  Priests — Anthony  Wayne — Little 
Turtle — First  Temperance  Society  in  the  United  States — The  Indians — 
Indian  Agents — Passing  Away  of  the  Tribes — Samuel  Hanna — Allan 
Hamilton — William  G.  and  George  W.  Ewing — Charles  W.  Ewing — 
Samuel  Lewis — Lewis  G.  Thompson — Jesse  L.  Williams — Robert  Brecken- 
ridge — Marshal  S.  Wines— John  Spencer — Francis  Comparet — John  B. 
Bourie— John  B.  Richardville. 

IN"  1833  Fort  Wayne,  as  I  have  said,  had  little  to  recommend 
it  but  its  site  which,  being  an  elevated  plateau  at  the  junc 
tion  of  the  St.  Joseph's  and  St.  Mary's  Rivers,  which  formed 
the  Maumee,  was  commanding  and  picturesque.  It  was  near 
the  line  which  divides  the  waters  which  flow  northeasterly  to 
Lake  Erie  from  those  which  flow  southwesterly  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  a  few  miles,  called  "  the  portage,"  separating  the 
Maumee  from  the  Wabash.  The  explorers  of  this  section  were 
French  Catholic  priests,  who  crossed  the  St.  Clair  Straits  near 
Detroit,  passed  over  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie,  ascended 
the  Maumee  to  its  head,  and  having  had  their  canoes  carried 
by  friendly  Indians  over  the  portage,  descended  the  Wabash 
to  the  Ohio,  and  thence  by  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  to  the 
Gulf.  Catholic  priests  are  invariably  sagacious,  far-seeing 
men,  and  these  explorers  predicted  that  their  route  from  Lake 
Erie  westward  would  become  a  great  thoroughfare ;  which 
prediction  was  fulfilled,  first  by  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal, 
and  afterwards  by  the  Wabash  Railroad. 

Upon  taking  command  of  the  United  States  forces  after  the 
defeat  of  General  Ilarmer  on  the  St.  Joseph's  in  1790,  and  the 
practical  annihilation  of  the  army  under  General  St.  Clair,  near 
the  head-waters  of  the  Wabash  in  the  following  year  (the  report 
of  which  terrible  disaster  so  overwhelmed  President  Washing 


ORIGIN    OF   FORT   WAYNE.  99 

ton  with  grief  and  rage  that  he  gave  expression  to  his  feelings 
in  a  vehemence  of  language  surprising  even  those  who  knew 
that  beneath  his  usually  placid  and  cold  exterior  there  existed 
a  fiery  sensibility  which,  when  suddenly  excited,  he  was  unable 
to  control),  General  Anthony  Wayne  perceived  the  necessity 
of  a  fortification  which  would  command  the  portage  and  pre 
vent  free  communication  between  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Indian  tribes.  The  fort,  to  which  his  name  was  given,  was 
therefore  built  under  his  direction,  and  it  became  a  nucleus  of 
what  is  now  one  of  the  most  populous  and  enterprising  cities 
of  Indiana.  In  1833  the  stockade,  enclosing  two  or  three 
acres  and  a  number  of  hewn  \og  houses,  was  still  stand  ins;. 

o  O 

At  the  head  of  the  allied  tribes  by  which  Hariner  and  St. 
Glair  had  been  defeated  was  Little  Turtle,  Chief  of  the  Mi- 
amis,  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  sagacious  Indians  of  whom 
there  is  any  record.  It  has  been  stated  by  some  writers  that 
a  Mohawk  half-breed,  called  by  the  English  Joseph  Brandt, 
was  in  command  of  the  Indians  in  these  (to  the  United  States 
forces)  disastrous  battles.  This,  I  think,  is  a  mistake.  Brandt 
was  raised  among  the  Onondagas,  in  New  York.  Having  an 
aptitude  for  learning,  he  became  a  favorite  of  the  English 
Indian  Superintendent  and  his  secretary.  When  the  Revolu 
tionary  War  broke  out,  he  naturally  sided  with  those  in  whose 
service  he  had  been  employed,  and  his  name  became  a  name  of 
terror  to  many  settlements  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania ; 
but  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  took  part  in  either  of  the  bat 
tles  referred  to.  Richardville,  who  succeeded  Little  Turtle  as 
Chief  of  the  Miamis,  informed  me  that  it  wras  Little  Turtle 
Avho  led  the  Indians,  and  to  whose  valor  and  skill  they  were 
indebted  for  their  victories. 

Little  Turtle  had  heard  of  Wayne,  and  when  he  learned 
that  this  great  warrior  was  to  take  command  of  the  United 
States  forces,  he  called  the  chiefs  of  the  allied  tribes  together 
in  council,  and  advised  that  peace  should  be  proposed  to  the 
white  men,  from  whom,  he  thought,  honorable  terms  could  be 


100     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

obtained.  "  Our  wigwams,"  said  he,  "  are  lined  with  the 
scalps  of  white  warriors  and  filled  with  plunder ;  let  us  make 
peace  and  return  to  our  hunting  grounds.  "We  may  not  always 
be  victors.  Our  enemy  is  still  strong ;  the  new  chief,  the 
friend  of  the  great  Washington,  is  a  chief  who  never  sleeps." 
This  advice  was  disregarded.  A  large  majority  of  the  council 
was  in  favor  of  their  continuing  upon  the  war-path.  "  Have 
we  not,"  said  one  of  the  young  chiefs,  "  beaten  the  white  men 
in  two  great  battles '?  Is  not  the  land  ours  ?  Shall  we  talk 
about  peace  when  by  a  few  more  blows  we  may  destroy  the 
invaders  and  enjoy  our  hunting  grounds  forever  ? "  Mourn 
fully  and  with  sad  forebodings  Little  Turtle  yielded  to  the 
demand  of  those  whose  thirst  for  blood  had  been  increased 
by.  what  they  had  tasted.  The  war  was  continued,  and  in 
1794,  the  allied  tribes  were  so  overwhelmingly  defeated  near 
the  Maumee  Rapids,  eighty  miles  below  Fort  Wayne,  by  the 
forces  under  Wayne,  that  they  never  appeared  upon  the  war 
path  again.  Gathering  together  the  remnants  of  his  tribe 
after  this  terrible  defeat  Little  Turtle  returned  with  them  to 
their  own  country,  on  the  upper  Wabash,  where  he  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life  in  efforts,  not  to  civilize  his  people,  but  to  save 
them  from  being  contaminated  by  intercourse  with  the  whites. 
To  him  is  due  the  honor  of  forming  one  of  the  first  temperance 
societies  in  America.  He  called  together  the  men  of  his  tribe, 
and,  after  portraying  the  evil  of  whiskey  (fire-water,  as  it  was 
properly  called),  he  proposed  that  they  should  all  pledge  them 
selves  to  each  other  to  drink  no  more  of  it.  His  proposal  was 
agreed  to.  The  pledge  was  given,  and  during  the  life  of  this 
great  chief  it  was,  with  few  exceptions,  faithfully  adhered  to. 

Little  Turtle  differed  from  most  Indians  in  being  inquisi 
tive  in  the  desire  to  know  how  other  people  were  living,  and 
what  they  were  doing.  He  had  great  respect  for  General 
Cass,  whom  he  visited  at  Detroit,  and  to  whom,  as  the  General 
informed  me,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  putting  questions  which 
exhibited  great  natural  intelligence  and  a  good  deal  of  interest 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   INDIANS.  101 

in  the  affairs  of  nations  which  he  had  heard  about.  lie  could 
not  speak  English  well,  but  he  understood  everything  that  was 
said  to  him  in  this  language.  In  one  of  these  interviews  Gen 
eral  Cass  told  him  about  Poland  ;  how  it  had  been  crushed  by 
the  strong  nations  around  it,  and  was  being  divided  between 
them.  "  I  never  had,"  said  the  General,  "  a  more  attentive 
listener.  He  sat  motionless,  with  his  keen  eye  upon  me,  until 
I  had  finished  the  mournful  story,  when  he  sprang  to  his  feet, 
and  with  his  hands  upon  his  tomahawk,  paced  the  room  with 
an  expression  upon  his  face  which  indicated  that  his  war  spirit 
was  aroused,  and  that  he  would  be  glad  to  strike  a  blow  for 
the  unfortunate  Poles." 

I  saw  a  good  deal  of  the  Indians  in  my  early  life  in  the 
West.  I  was  present  at  many  of  the  annuity  payments  to  the 
Miamis,  and  at  one  of  the  great  councils  at  which  treaties 
were  made.  Many  of  them  I  knew  personally,  and  I  must  say 
of  them  that,  when  sober,  they  were  perfectly  inoffensive  and 
trustworthy.  In  riding  through  their  country,  in  meeting 
them  on  the  way  or  at  their  wigwams,  I  never  had  the  slight 
est  fear  of  them  nor  any  cause  for  distrusting  them.  It  was 
only  when  they  were  intoxicated  by  the  vile  whiskey  which 
was  sold  to  them  by  the  traders — and  this  was  not  frequently 
the  case — that  they  were  dangerous.  From  what  I  know  of 
Indians  generally,  my  conclusion  is,  that  if  the  treaties  with 
them  had  been  fairly  made  and  faithfully  observed,  if  upright 
and  competent  agents  had  been  sent  to  them  and  they  had 
been  protected  against  the  impositions  of  villanous  traders, 
Indian  wars  would  have  been  of  rare  occurrence.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  in  numerous  instances  treaties  were  made  with 
chiefs  who  were  under  the  influence  of  dishonest  white  men, 
or  by  chiefs  who  did  not  represent  the  wishes  and  sentiments 
of  the  tribes,  and  even  such  treaties  were  not  faithfully  exe 
cuted  by  the  Government.  By  neglect  of  the  Indian  Bureau 
at  Washington,  or  the  incompetence  of  Government  employees, 
supplies,  in  many  instances,  failed  to  reach  the  Indians  in  sea- 


102     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

son.  In  other  instances,  the  articles  delivered  were  of  such 
inferior  quality  as  to  justify  the  suspicion  of  the  existence  of 
something  worse  than  neglect  or  incompetence  on  the  part  of 
those  who  acted  for  the  Government.  It  cannot,  perhaps,  be 
truthfully  said  that  Indian  agents,  as  a  class,  have  been  dis 
honest  or  incompetent ;  but  it  can  be  said,  without  doing  them 
injustice,  that  they  have  not  been  the  kind  of  men  that  private 
individuals  would  have  selected  to  perform  important  duties. 
As  for  the  licensed  traders,  it  can  be  safely  said  that  the^y  have 
been  the  reverse  of  what  they  ought  to  have  been.  Nor  has 
dishonesty  in  trade  with  the  Indians  been  confined  to  the 
licensed  traders. 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  Indian  trade  outside  of  the 
agencies  in  which  the  Indians  have  been  cheated.  Nothing 
surprised  me  more,  as  I  became  acquainted  with  the  manner 
in  which  this  trade  was  carried  on,  than  the  fact  that  men 
who  had  the  reputation  of  dealing  fairly  \vith  white  men  did 
not  hesitate  to  practise  the  most  shameful  impositions  in  their 
dealings  with  Indians.  I  have  known  many  men  who  were 
engaged  in  the  Indian  trade,  but  I  cannot  remember  more  than 
two  or  three  who  dealt  with  them  with  perfect  fairness.  Long 
ago  I  formed  the  opinion  that  the  tribes  that  occupied  the 
northern  part  of  the  United  States  were  incapable  of  being 
civilized,  by  which  I  mean,  incapable  of  living  by  manual  labor 
upon  land  or  in  shops.  Differing  widely  in  disposition  and 
character  from  the  tribes  in  the  Southern  States,  and  altogether 
differing  from  the  aborigines  of  Central  and  South  America, 
naturally  disinclined  to  industrial  pursuits,  they  have  been 
doomed  to  pass  away  with  the  game  upon  which  they  mainly 
subsisted.  Land  is  needed  for  grazing  and  cultivation.  Every 
acre  is,  or  will  be,  required  for  the  subsistence  of  the  human 
family.  Territory  sufficient  to  support  a  thousand  Indians  by 
hunting  and  fishing,  would  furnish  homes  for  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  industrious  white  men.  A  few  families  of  the 
various  tribes  will  for  a  while  linger  about  the  industrial  civ- 


PIONEERS   OF   EMINEXCE.  103 

ilization  in  which  they  can  never  fully  participate;  but  as  a 
race  they  will  soon  disappear,  leaving  no  record  of  their  origin 
and  no  reliable  record  even  of  their  own  existence.  While 
this  is  to  be  their  fate,  there  is  cause  for  national  humiliation 
in  the  fact  that  their  disappearance  has  been  hastened  by  the 
vices,  the  cupidity,  the  injustice,  the  inhumanity  of  a  people 
claiming  to  be  Christians. 

Uninviting  as  Fort  Wayne  was  in  many  respects,  it  was 
fortunate  in  the  character  of  its  settlers — intelligent,  far-seeing, 
wide-awake  men,  among  the  most  prominent  of  whom  was 
Samuel  Hanna,  one  of  that  class  to  which  the  West  has  been 
indebted  for  its  public  improvements.  Commencing  business 
in  a  small  way  with  his  brother-in-law,  James  Barnet,  he 
became  the  leader  in  all  enterprises  which  were  undertaken  for 
the  benefit  of  Fort  Wayne  and  the  country  around  it  ;  the 
most  important  of  which  were  the  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  the 
Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  railroads,  the  former  extending 
from  Crestline  in  Ohio  to  Fort  Wayne,  the  latter  from  Fort 
Wayne  to  Chicago.  The  construction  of  these  roads  was 
uphill  work  from  the  start.  Again  and  again  were  the  com 
panies  upon  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  and  nothing  saved  them 
but  the  faith,  energy,  and  unyielding  tenacity  of  Mr.  Hanna. 
He  lived  to  see  both  roads  completed  and  consolidated  with  the 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  forming  the  Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne 
and  Chicago,  one  of  the  great  trunk  lines  of  the  country. 

Allen  Hamilton  was  a  Protestant  Irishman  of  a  respectable 
but  impoverished  family.  Having  obtained,  by  the  help  of 
some  of  his  relatives,  a  fair  clerical  education,  and  formed  the 
resolution  to  strike  out  for  himself,  as  he  expressed  it,  he 
joined  a  small  company  of  his  countrymen  who  were  about  to 
emigrate  to  Canada.  In  due  time  he  reached  Montreal,  and, 
after  spending  a  few  days  in  that  city  in  fruitless  efforts  to 
find  employment,  he  proceeded  on  foot  to  New  York,  and 
being  equally  unsuccessful  there,  he  pushed  on  in  the  same  way 
to  Philadelphia.  Here  he  was  compelled  to  make  a  stand. 


104  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

He  was  down  to  his  last  dollar,  and  he  must  either  find  some 
thing  to  do  or  starve.  Having  secured  a  cheap  lodging,  and 
been  refreshed  by  a  good  night's  sleep  and  a  plain  but  sub 
stantial  breakfast,  he  started  out  hoping  to  find  some  one  who 
would  take  him  upon  trust  and  put  him  to  work,  no  matter 
what  might  be  the  nature  of  the  service.  All  the  long,  weary 
day  he  spent  in  going  from  street  to  street  and  shop  to  shop. 
Nobody  wranted  a  clerk,  and  to  those  who  might  have  given 
him  employment  as  a  laborer,  he  seemed  too  delicate  to  be 
serviceable.  Just  as  the  sun  was  going  down  and  he  was 
about  to  return  to  his  lodgings,  hungry  and  despairing,  he 
saw  through  the  window  of  a  plain-looking  office  a  gentleman 
of  venerable  appearance  sitting  at  his  desk.  "  This  is  my  last 
chance,"  said  he  to  himself ;  "  I  will  try  it."  So,  mustering 
what  courage  he  had,  he  knocked  hesitatingly  at  the  door  and 
was  bidden  to  come  in.  There  was  something  in  the  tone  in 
which  the  words  "  Come  in  "  were  uttered  that  was  encour 
aging.  "  And  what  can  I  do  for  you  ? "  said  the  old  gentleman. 
"  Something  to  do  by  which  I  can  earn  an  honest  living,"  was 
the  earnest  reply.  "  You  look  weary  and  troubled ;  how  hap 
pens  it,  if  you  are  willing  to  work,  that  you  are  in  need  of 
employment  ? "  Briefly  the  young  man  related  his  pitiful 
story.  The  old  gentleman  listened  to  it  patiently,  and  when 
it  was  finished  he  said :  "  You  bear,  young  man,  an  honest 
face.  I  believe  you  have  told  me  the  truth.  You  shall  have 
a  trial.  Come  to  me  in  the  morning  ;  I  will  put  you  at  work." 
These  were  the  first  words  of  encouragement  which  Hamil 
ton  had  heard  since  his  arrival  at  Montreal.  His  heart,  as  he 
said  to  me  years  after,  went  to  his  mouth.  He  could  hardly 
speak,  and  when  he  did  he  could  only  say,  "  I  thank  you,  sir." 
The  next  morning  at  the  appointed  hour  he  was  at  the  office. 
By  his  aptness  and  industry  he  grew  rapidly  in  the  favor  of 
his  employer,  and  was  so  well  paid  for  his  services  that  in  less 
than  a  year  he  had  money  enough  to  cover  his  expenses  to 
Aurora  in  Indiana,  where  a  distant  relative  was  living.  Here 


THE   BROTHERS   EWING.  105 

he  obtained  employment  in  the  office  of  the  County  Clerk, 
and,  being  a  young  gentleman  of  good  habits  and  address,  he 
soon  became  a  visitor  at  the  house  of  Judge  Ilolman,  United 
States  District  Judge,  whose  daughter,  a  very  accomplished 
girl,  the  sister  of  William  S.  Hoi  man,  the  distinguished  mem 
ber  of  Congress  from  Indiana,  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
marry.  From  Aurora  he  went  to  Fort  Wayne,  and  had  been 
living  there  two  or  three  years  when  I  met  him  in  1833, 
unconsciously  laying  the  foundation  for  a  large  fortune  by 
investing  everv  dollar  he  could  raise  in  Government  lands. 
I  say  unconsciously,  because  no  one  then  dreamed  of  the 
rapidity  with  which  AYestern  lands  were  to  rise  in  value.  In 
a  conversation  with  him  in  the  spring  of  1834, 1  said  that  a 
friend  of  mine,  a  ship-master,  tired  of  the  sea,  was  coming  to 
Fort  Wayne  with  $15,000  in  cash.  "  That  is  a  large  sum," 
said  he ;  "  if  I  had  that  amount  of  clear  cash  I  should  con 
sider  myself  rich."  He  died  about  twenty -five  years  from  that 
time,  leaving  an  estate  worth  a  million  or  more.  The  turning- 
point  in  Mr.  Hamilton's  life  was  his  kind  reception  by  the  old 
Quaker  in  Philadelphia.  From  that  day  his  career  was  one 
of  uninterrupted  success.  Nor  was  his  good  fortune  confined 
to  the  acquisition  of  wealth.  He  was  equally  fortunate  in  his 
family  relations.  Especially  fortunate  was  he  in  having  sons 
who  (unlike  the  sons  of  most  rich  men  in  the  United  States) 
are  addino-  to  the  estate  which  their  father  left  them,  and  at 

O 

the  same  time  maintaining  his  good  reputation. 

William  G.  Ewing  and  his  brother,  George  W.,  formed  the 
firm  of  "  W.  G.  &  G.  W.  Ewing."  They  had  come  from 
Ohio,  and  with  Mr.  Hanna,  Mr.  Hamilton,  and  others  whom 
I  shall  mention,  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Northern 
Indiana.  As  there  were  at  that  time  no  surplus  agricultural 
productions  in  that  section,  the  only  business  opening  for  them 
was  trade  with  the  Indians  and  white  hunters  and  trappers  in 
furs  and  skins.  Commencing  in  a  small  way  at  Fort  Wayne, 
they  rapidly  extended  their  field  of  operations,  and  in  a  few 


106     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

years  from  the  time  at  which  they  bought  the  first  coonskin, 
the  firm  of  "  W.  G.  &  G.  W.  Ewing  "  became  one  of  the 
most  widely  known  and  successful  trading-firms  of  the  North 
west.  For  a  considerable  period  their  bills  drawn  upon  their 
consignee  in  New  York  against  shipments  of  furs  and  skins 
furnished  the  larger  part  of  the  Xew  York  exchange  of  the 
branch  bank,  of  which  I  was  manager.  But  large  and  profit 
able  as  was  their  trade,  the  bulk  of  their  large  fortune  was  the 
result  of  investments  in  real  estate,  the  most  fortunate  of  which 
were  in  Chicago  and  St.  Louis.  Enterprising,  laborious,  adven 
turous  men  they  were,  but  so  devoted  to  business,  so  persistent 
in  the  pursuit  of  gain,  that  they  had  no  time  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  their  labors.  I  have  rarely  met  their  equals  in  busi 
ness  capacity  or  general  intelligence  ;  very  few  have  I  known 
who  had  less  real  enjoyment  of  life.  Charles  W.  Ewing,  their 
brother,  was  a  lawyer,  and  one  of  the  most  graceful  and  fasci 
nating  speakers,  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  agreeable 
men  socially,  that  I  ever  became  acquainted  with.  He  had  a 
splendid  physique  and  a  classic  face.  He  was  an  excellent 
singer  and  story-teller.  He  had  made  a  study  of  Shakespeare, 
and  could  quote  the  finest  passages  from  the  works  of  the  great 
master  in  a  manner  that  could  hardly  be  surpassed  by  dis 
tinguished  actors.  In  addition  to  these  accomplishments  and 
advantages,  he  was  a  good  lawyer  and  skilful  advocate.  So 
thoroughly  equipped  was  he  for  success  in  the  higher  walks 
of  life  that  the  most  distinguished  positions  would  have  been 
within  his  reach,  if  his  convivial  habits  had  not  led  him  into 
dissipation  which  terminated  prematurely  a  career  the  opening 
of  which  was  full  of  promise. 

Samuel  Lewis,  who  had  charge  of  the  Wabash  and  Erie 
Canal  land  office,  was  a  man  of  the  purest  character  and  of 
superior  business  capacity.  His  wife,  a  lady  of  rare  intelli 
gence,  was  the  aunt  of  General  Lew  Wallace,  who  is  adding  to 
his  high  reputation  as  a  soldier  enviable  distinction  as  a  writer. 
The  house  in  which  Mr.  Lewis  lived  was  a  double  log-  cabin, 


DR.    THOMPSON    AND    ENGINEER   WILLIAMS.  107 

the  latchstring  of  which  was  always  out,  a  cabin  which  was 
rendered  charming  in  summer  by  the  beauty  and  odors  of 
the  honeysuckles  and  climbing  roses  which  covered  its  walls, 
and  in  winter  by  the  cheerful  blaze  in  its  ample  lire-places, 
and  which  was  always  made  doubly  charming  by  the  open- 
handed  hospitality  of  its  host.  Lewis  G.  Thompson  was  for 
many  years  the  leading  physician  of  Fort  Wayne.  He  had 
that  instinctive  knowledge  of  diseases  which  distinguishes  the 
born  physician,  and  without  which  medical  knowledge  derived 
from  books  is  a  snare.  Belonging  to  the  old  allopathic  school, 
he  believed  in  medicine,  and  gave  evidence  of  his  faith  by 
prescriptions  which  were  the  reverse  of  homoeopathic,  but  so 
accurate  was  his  intuition  in  locating  diseases,  that  he  was 
rarely  at  fault  in  treating  them.  I  admired  Dr.  Thompson  for 
his  medical  skill  and  for  his  many  noble  and  manly  qualities, 
but  more  than  all  for  the  conscientiousness  and  humanity 
which  compelled  him  to  treat  with  equal  caref  ulnessxand  atten 
tion  those  who  were  able  to  pay  for  his  services  and  those 
who  were  not.  Jesse  L.  Williams,  the  chief  engineer  of  the 
Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  was  living  at  Fort  Wayne  in  1833. 
When  the  State  engaged  in  an  extensive  system  of  public 
works,  he  was  appointed  chief  engineer  of  the  State,  and 
went  to  Indianapolis,  where  he  remained  until  the  entire  sys 
tem  collapsed  in  the  general  financial  crash  of  1837,  and  all 
hopes  of  its  revival  had  been  abandoned,  when  he  returned  to 
Fort  Wayne,  where  he  recently  died,  the  last  survivor  of  those 
whom  I  first  met  there.  Few  of  our  civil  engineers  have  sur 
passed  Mr.  Williams  in  engineering  skill,  and  I  have  never 
known  his  equal  in  industry  and  endurance.  His  labors  as 
chief  engineer  of  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  and  other 
public  \vorks  in  Indiana,  were  prodigious,  but  he  never  failed 
to  be  equal  to  them.  Week  after  week  and  month  after 
month,  every  day  except  Sunday,  on  which  he  always  rested, 
he  could  be  found  upon  the  line  of  the  public  works,  usually  in 
the  saddle,  and  in  the  evening,  and  until  midnight,  at  his  desk. 


108  MEN   ATsTD    MEASURES    OF   HALF    A   CENTUKY. 

The  only  position  which  he  has  held  outside  of  Indiana  was 
that  of  Government  director  of  the  Union  Pacific  road,  which 
he  held  for  only  a  short  period.  He  found  soon  after  his 
appointment  that  there  was  a  secret  as  well  as  open  connec 
tion  between  the  railroad  company  and  the  Credit  Mobilier, 
the  nature  of  which  he  was  not  to  be  made  acquainted  with ; 
a  wheel-within-a-wheel  management,  which  he  suspected  was 
not  favorable  to  the  interests  which  he  was  appointed  to  look 
after  and  protect,  and  he  therefore  resigned  his  directorship. 
Mr.  Williams  acquired  a  large  property,  and  he  was  very  for 
tunate  in  his  family  connections.  His  wife  (a  daughter  of 
Judge  Creighton  of  Chillicothe,  Ohio),  who  is  still  living,  is  a 
lady  of  superior  culture,  who  has  always  been  distinguished 
alike  for  her  social  qualities  and  active  beneficence.  His  sons, 
while  they  do  not  come  up  to  their  father's  standard  in  energy, 
will  not  discredit  the  name  which  they  bear. 

The  men  whom  I  have  thus  mentioned,  with  Robert  Breck- 
enridge,  Register  of  the  Land  Office,  a  man  who  possessed  the 
best  qualities  of  the  distinguished  Breckenridge  family  of  Ken 
tucky,  of  which  he  was  a  distant  connection ;  Marshall  S.  Wines, 
a  man  of  extraordinary  enterprise  and  force ;  John  Spencer, 
Receiver  of  the  Land  Office  ;  Francis  Comparet,  and  John  B. 
Bourie,  Canadian  Frenchmen,  who  were  just  commencing  what 
soon  became  a  large  trade  in  furs  with  the  Indians,  made  up, 
with  their  families  and  a  few  stragglers,  the  population  of  Fort 
Wayne  in  the  early  summer  of  1833.  Since  then  I  have  seen 
a  good  deal  of  the  world.  I  have  been  thrown  among  people 
of  all  grades ;  I  have  been  brought  into  social  and  business 
relations  with  men  standing  high  in  public  esteem ;  but  the 
men  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  half 
a  century,  stand  out  before  me  in  bold  relief  as  remarkably 
intelligent,  enterprising,  far-seeing,  and  withal  kind-hearted, 
generous  men.  Nor  do  I  forget  the  roving,  daring  men  who 
opened  the  way  for  settlers,  but  never  lingered  when  people 
became  numerous  and  game  became  scarce — the  leather-stock- 


CHARACTER   OF   FRONTIERSMEN.  109 

ing  frontiersmen  of  the  West.  Rough  in  manners,  uncouth,  if 
not  repulsive,  in  appearance,  as  some  of  them  were,  they 
seemed  to  be  the  very  men  whom  it  would  not  be  safe  to  meet 
in  out-of-the-way  places.  But  such  they  were  not.  Thieves, 
robbers,  murderers  are  not  bred  in  the  forests  where  nature 
exists  in  its  freshness  and  beauty ;  they  are  the  product  of 
gregarious  civilization.  Many  a  time  have  I  met  frontiersmen 
in  places  where  resistance  would  have  been  in  vain,  without 
receiving  from  them  any  but  the  kindest  treatment.  Beneath 
a  rough  exterior  there  was  a  mine  of  noble  qualities,  which 
slumbered  only  when  there  was  nothing  to  bring  them  into 
exercise.  ''  Scratch  a  Russian,  and  you  will  find  a  Tartar," 
said  Napoleon.  "  Scratch  a  Christian,  and  you  will  find  a 
pagan,"  says  Ileber  Newton.  Reversing  the  scale,  I  could  say 
as  the  result  of  my  observation,  that  if  one  of  these  frontiers 
men  had  been  scratched,  there  would  have  been  revealed  a 
gentleman. 

Nor  ought  I  to  conclude  what  I  have  thought  it  proper  for 
me  to  say  about  my  early  acquaintances  in  the  West  without 
saying  a  few  more  words  about  a  prominent  and  remarkable 
man,  John  B.  Richardville,  who  succeeded  Little  Turtle  as 
chief  of  the  Miamis.  His  father  was  a  Frenchman,  his  mother 
a  squaw.  By  what  rule  of  succession  or  selection  he  became 
chief  I  was  not  informed,  but  he  proved  to  be  the  right  man 
for  the  place.  He  was  no  war  chief,  like  Little  Turtle.  He 
had  not  a  drop  of  fighting  blood  in  his  veins,  but  he  was  a  man 
of  great  natural  shrewdness  and  sagacity,  of  whom  no  one 
ever  got  the  better  in  a  trade.  Nor  did  he  find  an  equal  in 
diplomatic  skill  among  the  Government  commissioners  when 
treaties  were  to  be  made  with  his  nation.  "  He  is,"  said  Sen 
ator  Tipton,  who  met  him  frequently  in  council,  "  the  ablest 
diplomat  of  whom  I  have  any  knowledge.  If  he  had  been 
born  and  educated  in  France,  he  would  have  been  the  equal  of 
Talleyrand."  Although  he  dressed  like  a  white  man,  and  lived 
in  a  brick  house,  he  had  a  commanding  influence  over  the 


110     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OE  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

tribe.  He  was  watchful  of  the  interests  of  his  people,  but  by 
no  means  unmindful  of  his  own.  In  all  treaties,  large  reserva 
tions  of  the  choicest  lands  were  secured  to  him,  and  not  a  few 
boxes  of  silver  were  set  aside  for  his  special  use.  The  great 
mistake  of  his  life  wras  made,  he  said,  when  he  yielded  his  own 
judgment  to  that  of  a  Catholic  priest,  who  was  one  of  his  sec 
ular  as  well  as  spiritual  advisers,  and  sent  his  two  boys  away 
from  home  to  be  educated — one  in  Louisville,  the  other  in 
Montreal.  Apt  to  learn,  and  patient  under  discipline,  they 
took  high  rank  in  their  respective  schools,  and  when  they 
returned  to  their  home,  near  Fort  Wayne,  they  were  as  bright 
and  interesting  young  fellows  as  could  be  found  anywhere. 
Such  they  did  not  long  contkme.  They  had  lost  their  taste 
for  Indian  life,  and  the}"  had  no  disposition  to  engage  in  the 
pursuits  of  white  men.  They  soon  passed  from  listlessness  to 
dissipation,  and  became  the  most  degraded  of  the  young  men 
of  the  tribe.  "  Education,"  said  their  disappointed  father, 
"  very  good  for  white  boys  ;  bad,  very  bad,  for  Indians." 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  of  their  chiefs,  Avho  were  land 
owners,  the  Miamis  were  removed  to  what  is  now^  Kansas,  in 
1846,  and  I  recollect  the  doleful  descriptions  which  came  from 
them  of  that  country.  To  them  it  was  a  desert  over  which 
the  fierce  winds  were  constantly  sweeping,  without  trees,  and 
without  game.  The  change  from  a  country  like  Northern 
Indiana,  its  lakes  and  rivers  abounding  with  fish,  and  its  splen 
did  forests  alive  with  game  of  nearly  all  descriptions,  to  a 
nearly  treeless  plain,  wras  indeed  disheartening.  Said  one  of 
the  traders  who  went  with  them  to  me  on  his  return  :  "  I  am, 
as  you  know,  unused  to  the  melting  mood ;  but  when  the  young 
braves  at  my  parting  with  them  burst  into  tears  and  begged 
like  children  to  be  taken  back  to  their  old  home,  I  could  not 
help  crying  also." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

My  First  Illness  Cheered  by  a  Catholic  Priest — The  State  Bank  of  Indiana — 
Appointed  Cashier  and  Manager  of  the  Fort  Wayne  Branch— Excellent 
and  Liberal  Charter  of  the  Bank — General  Management— Benefits  to  the 
State — Capital  Paid  up  in  Spanish  and  Mexican  Dollars — Its  Managers — 
Samuel  Merrill,  President,  and  James  M.  Ray,  Cashier,  and  Prominent 
Directors — J.  F.  D.  Lanier. 

I  BEACHED  Fort  Wayne  on  the  26th  of  June,  and  on  the 
4th  of  July,  while  I  was  delivering  an  oration,  I  had  a 
chill,  which  was  followed  by  what  was  called  an  acclimating 
bilious  fever,  from  which  I  did  not  fully  recover  until  October. 
For  some  days  my  recovery  was  considered  doubtful,  even  by 
my  physician,  Dr.  Thompson,  and  so  prostrated  was  I  after 
the  fever  left  me  that  for  weeks  I  was  as  helpless  as  a  child. 
During  my  illness  I  received  from  my  physician  all  the  atten 
tion  which  he  Avas  able  to  give  me,  but  it  was  a  sickly  season, 
and  he  had  so  many  other  patients  to  attend  to  that  I  seldom 
saw  him  except  in  the  morning  and  evening.  His  wife  and 
her  sister,  Mrs.  Forsyth,  were  not  lacking  in  kindness,  but  my 
room  was  separated  from  their  house,  and  with  their  own  fami 
lies  to  look  after,  they  had  little  time  to  give  to  a  stranger. 
My  room,  the  furniture  of  which  was  a  bed,  two  splint-bot 
tomed  chairs  and  a  dry-goods  box,  which  answered  the  pur 
pose  of  a  table,  was  about  as  cheerless  as  could  be  imagined. 
The  only  one  to  wait  upon  me  was  a  lad  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  old,  and  my  almost  only  visitor  was  a  French  Catholic 
priest,  who  called  two  or  three  times  a  week,  not  to  adminis 
ter  spiritual  consolation,  but  to  cheer  me  by  his  pleasant  and 
encouraging  talk.  He  had  been  educated  in  Paris,  and  was 
old  enough  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  to  observe  and  to  be 
impressed  by  what  he  witnessed  during  the  Reign  of  Terror. 


1J2     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

He  spoke  the  English  language  fluently,  and  I  recollect  vividly 
how  charmed  I  was  by  the  tones  of  his  voice,  and  how  he 
seemed  to  strengthen  me  in  my  contest  for  life  by  his  descrip 
tion  of  the  fortitude  he  had  witnessed  of  those  of  his  own  order 
under  the  cruelties  to  which  they  had  been  subjected.  It  has 
always  seemed  strange  to  me  that  I  should  not,  at  any  time 
during  my  protracted  and  dangerous  illness,  deprived  as  I  was 
of  all  the  care  and  comforts  to  which  I  had  been  accustomed 
in  my  Xew  England  home,  have  been  depressed  in  spirits.  I 
knew,  of  course,  that  I  was  desperately  ill,  and  although  my 
physician  always  spoke  encouragingly,  I  knew  by  his  treat 
ment  that  he  regarded  my  case  as  critical,  but  I  was  never 
despondent.  If  my  courage  had  given  way,  I  should  have 
died.  It  was  pluck  that  saved  me. 

During  my  illness  the  population  of  Fort  Wayne  had  been 
considerably  increased  by  new-comers,  as  had  also  its  business 
by  active  work  upon  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  which  was 
then  being  rapidly  constructed.  This  alone  would  probably 
have  induced  me  to  remain  there,  but  the  question  whether  I 
should  do  that  or  go  further  was  no  longer  an  open  one.  It 
had  been  decided  by  the  emptiness  of  my  purse.  As  soon, 
therefore,  as  I  was  able  to  be  upon  my  feet,  although  but  little 
better  than  a  skeleton,  I  took  possession  of  a  ten-by-twelve 
office  which  Dr.  Thompson  had  built  for  me,  and  hung  out  my 
shingle  as  an  attorney-at-law.  I  had  not  long  to  wait  for  clients. 
The  oration  which  I  delivered  on  the  4th  of  July  had  made 
a  favorable  impression  upon  those  who  heard  it  (I  believe 
that  everybody  in  town  or  the  neighborhood  was  present),  and 
I  soon  had  business  enough  to  keep  me  pretty  well  employed. 
On  the  first  day  I  was  called  upon  to  draw  a  contract  of  con 
siderable  importance ;  the  next  day,  a  will ;  a  day  or  two 
after,  to  defend  a  man  charged  with  a  breach  of  the  peace.  So 
the  business  went  on  steadily  increasing  with  my  improvement 
in  health,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  I  had  made  more  than 
enough  to  cover  expenses,  with  fair  prospects  of  satisfactory 


THE   STATE   BANK    OF   INDIANA.  113 

success  in  my  profession.     Fate  had  decreed,  however,  that  I 
was  not  to  earn  my  bread  by  the  practice  of  the  law. 

The  State  Bank  of  Indiana  was  chartered  in  the  winter  of 
1833  and  1834.  Ten  of  the  branches  were  organized  and  put 
into  operation  in  the  following  November.  The  next  year 
the  eleventh  branch  was  established  at  Fort  Wayne,  and  sub 
sequently  two  more  were  established — one  at  South  Bend,  the 
other  at  Michigan  City.  In  October,  1835,  I  was  appointed 
cashier  and  manager  of  the  Fort  Wayne  branch.  I  had  no 
practical  knowledge  whatever  of  banking,  and  I  said  so  to  the 
directors ;  but  they  supposed  that  I  was  better  fitted  for  the 
place  than  anybody  else  whose  services  they  could  obtain,  and 
I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  decline  the  appointment.  I  did  not, 
however,  intend  to  abandon  my  profession,  and  I  accepted  the 
appointment  with  the  understanding  that  I  should  be  at  lib 
erty  to  resign  at  any  time  after  the  organization  had  been  per 
fected  and  business  had  been  fairly  commenced.  I  did  not 
resign.  I  liked  the  business  of  banking,  and  had  no  disposition 
to  resume  the  practice  of  the  law.  In  1836  I  was  appointed, 
by  the  directors  of  the  branch,  a  director  of  the  State  Bank, 
and  I  held  the  office  of  cashier  of  the  branch  and  direc 
tor  of  the  bank  until  the  expiration  of  the  charter  in  1857.  j 
During  this  period  I  had  the  entire  management  of  the  busi 
ness  of  the  branch.  Mr.  Hamilton,  the  president,  received 
only  a  nominal  salary,  and  gave  the  bank  very  little  personal 
attention.  The  directors  met  every  week,  rather  to  sanction 
the  doings  of  the  cashier  than  to  decide  upon  discounts,  and 
there  being  practically  but  one  head,  there  was  never  any 
diversity  of  opinion  as  to  what  had  been,  or  ought  to  be,  done. 
The  charter  required  a  quarterly  examination  of  the  condition 
of  the  branches  by  committees  of  their  directors.  This  exam- 
ination  was  rather  formal  than  actual,  in  most  if  not  all  of  the 
branches.  It  was,  I  know,  only  formal  at  Fort  Wayne.  Kot 
so,  however,  was  it  with  the  examinations — always  semi-annual 


114  MEN   AND   MEASUKES   OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

and  sometimes  more  frequent — which  were  made  by  the  presi 
dent  of  the  bank.  As  no  notice  was  ever  given  of  the  time  when 
these  examinations  were  to  be  looked  for,  no  especial  prepara 
tion  could  be  made  for  them  by  the  officers  of  the  branches,  and 
they  were  always  of  the  most  searching  and  thorough  charac 
ter.  So  searching  and  thorough  were  they,  that  fraud  or  mis 
management  could  hardly  have  escaped  detection.  I  can  bear 
testimony  to  the  intelligence,  the  industry  and  honesty  which 
were  displa}Ted  in  the  examinations  by  Samuel  Merrill,  the 
first  president,  and  his  successor,  James  Morrison.  The  thor 
oughness  of  these  examinations  did  much,  I  am  sure,  to  keep 
the  business  of  the  branches  in  a  safe  and  healthy  condition. 

In  nothing  was  the  wisdom,  the  practical  good  sense,  of 
the  representatives  of  the  people  of  Indiana  in  the  legislative 
assembly  more  strikingly  exhibited  than  in  the  charter  of  this 
bank.  In  some  respects  it  resembled  the  charter  of  the  United 
States  Bank ;  but  it  contained  grants  and  obligations,  privileges 
and  restrictions  quite  unlike  those  which  were  to  be  found  in 
any  other  bank  charter,  and  which  were  admirably  adapted  to 
the  condition  of  the  State  and  the  circumstances  of  the  people. 
The  number  of  branches  was  limited  to  thirteen,  the  capital  of 
each  of  which  was  to  be  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dol 
lars,  one-half  of  which  was  to  be  furnished  by  the  State. 
During  the  existence  of  the  charter  no  other  bank  or  corpo 
rate  banking  institution  was  to  be  authorized  or  permitted  in 
the  State.  As  there  were  no  capitalists  and  few  men  of  more 
than  very  moderate  means  in  Indiana,  the  charter  provided 
that  to  every  stockholder  who  should  pay  eighteen  dollars  and 
seventy-five  cents  on  each  fifty-dollar  share  by  him  subscribed 
for,  the  State  should  at  his  request  advance  as  a  loan  thirty- 
one  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents,  so  that  the  stock  might  be 
fully  paid  up.  The  loan  was  to  be  secured  by  bond  and  mort 
gage  on  real  estate  at  one-half  its  appraised  value.  The  stock 
holder  was  to  be  charged  six  per  cent,  on  the  loan,  and  credited 
with  whatever  dividends  might  be  declared  on  that  part  of  the 


THE   FORT   WAYNE   BRANCH.  115 

stock  which  was  thus  to  be  paid  for  by  the  State.  As  an 
illustration,  a  stockholder  who  should  subscribe  for  one  hun 
dred  shares  of  stock  ($5,000)  would  pay  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventy -five,  and  the  State,  at  his  option,  would  pay  for  him 
thirty-one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars.  The  dividends  on 
the  latter  were  to  be  received  by  the  State  and  credited  upon 
his  loan.  Many  stockholders  availed  themselves  of  this  option, 
and  as  in  most  of  the  branches  the  dividends  largely  exceeded 
six  per  cent.,  they  found  themselves  before  the  expiration  of 
the  charter  to  be  the  owners  of  the  stock  subscribed  for,  free 
from  the  lien  of  the  State.  In  the  best-managed  branches,  the 
lien  of  the  State  was  discharged  some  years  before  the  charter 
expired.  The  branch  at  Fort  Wayne  was  not  the  best,  but  it 
was  one  of  the  best-managed  branches.  The  profits  of  this 
branch  so  much  exceeded  six  per  cent.,  that  the  loan  was  paid, 
if  I  recollect  rightly,  seven  years  before  the  expiration  of  the 
charter  (during  which  period  the  largest  profits  were  made), 
and  the  borrowing  stockholder  received  for  that  period  the 
dividends  on  the  full  amount  of  his  shares.  Nor  was  this  all. 
At  the  winding  up  of  the  business  of  the  branch,  he  received 
not  only  the  par  value  of  his  stock,  but  an  equal  amount  from 
the  accumulated  surplus 

To  pay  for  its  stock  and  the  advances  to  stockholders,  the 
State  issued  and  sold  in  London  its  coupon  bonds,  bearing 
five  per  cent,  interest,  to  run  for  a  period  slightly  exceed 
ing  the  time  for  which  the  bank  had  been  chartered.  These 
bonds  were  known  as  bank  bonds,  the  interest  and  principal 
of  which  were  equitably  secured  by  the  stock  of  the  State  in 
the  branches,  and  its  lien  upon  individual  stock  for  advances. 
Long  before  their  maturity  the  State  was  in  a  condition  to 
retire  them ;  but  although  her  general  credit  had  been  broken 
down  in  the  crisis  of  1837,  and  her  other  bonds  were  for  a 
number  of  years  regarded  as  being  well  nigh  valueless,  these 
bank  bonds  could  not  be  reached,  although  a  handsome  pre 
mium  was  offered  for  them.  The  stock  of  the  State  in  the 


116     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

branches,  and  the  individual  stock  on  which  the  State  had 
made  advances,  was  under  the  care  of  a  board  known  as 
"  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund,"  composed  of  the  pres-  v 
ident  and  five  directors  of  the  bank,  on  the  part  of  the  State, 
and  a  secretary  who  was  cashier  of  the  bank.  It  was  the 
duty  of  this  board  to  receive  the  dividends  on  the  stock  of 
which  it  had  the  care,  and  after  paying  the  interest  on  the 
bank  bonds,  to  lend  the  overplus  to  citizens  of  the  State  on 
bonds  and  mortgages. 

To  lend  the  money  judiciously  and  safely  on  the  security 
of  real  estate,  which,  although  generally  advancing  in  value, 
was  as  generally  over-rated,  especially  in  speculative  times, 
there  were  required  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  practical 
knowledge  and  sound  judgment  as  well  as  integrity.  That 
they  were  not  lacking  in  these  good  qualities  was  proven  by 
the  fact  that  on  these  loans,  running  up  as  they  did  into  the 
millions,  not  a  dollar  was  lost.  The  result  of  the  connection 
of  the  State  with  the  bank  was  a  net  profit  of  nearly  three 
millions  of  dollars,  which  became  the  basis  of  her  large  and 
well-managed  school  fund.  Nor  was  the  pecuniary  gain  the 
only  benefit  which  the  State  derived  from  the  bank.  At  the 
commencement  of  its  business,  when  the  agricultural  produc 
tions  of  the  State  did  not  much  exceed  the  demand  for  home 
consumption,  a  large  part  of  the  loans  were  necessarily  to  men 
who  were  buying  or  improving  lands.  No  considerable  losses 
were  sustained  on  these  loans,  but  they  were  sluggish  and  un 
reliable,  and  if  in  excess  of  the  capital  of  the  branches,  might 
become  dangerous.  The  managers  of  the  branches  were  not 
slow  in  discovering  this  fact,  and  the  lesson  which  it  taught 
was  so  sharply  impressed  upon  them  by  the  financial  crisis  of 
183T  and  the  terrible  depression  which  followed,  that  from 
the  time  when  business  began  to  revive  the  loans  which  they 
made  were  mainly  confined  to  bills  of  exchange,  based  upon 
produce  shipped  or  to  be  shipped  to  Eastern  or  Southern  mar 
kets.  Such  loans  were  the  only  loans  which  could  be  made 


BENEFIT   OF   THE   BANK   TO   THE   STATE.  117 

with  advantage  to  the  State  or,  except  to  a  very  limited  extent, 
with  safety  to  the  branches.  What  the  State  needed  was 
the  means  for  sending  its  agricultural  productions  to  market. 
What  the  bank  needed,  in  order  to  be  able  at  all  times  to  meet 
its  liabilities,  was  what  was  called  prompt  paper.  Both  of 
these  requirements  were  met  by  the  policy  which  the  bank 
adopted  in  1843,  and  steadily  pursued.  Not  only  did  the 
bank  furnish  the  needful  means  for  sending  the  surplus  pro 
ductions  of  the  State  to  market,  but  by  its  judicious  loans  to 
farmers,  to  enable  them  to  increase  their  stock  of  cattle  and 
hogs  to  consume  their  surplus  of  corn,  which  loans  were  taken 
up  by  bills  of  exchange  drawn  against  shipments,  it  greatly 
stimulated  and  increased  production.  I  do  not  exaggerate 
when  I  say  that  the  profits  of  the  State  upon  her  bank  stock, 
large  as  they  were,  were  small  in  comparison  with  the  increase 
of  her  wealth  by  the  manner  in  which  the  business  of  the 
bank  was  conducted.  Its  capital  was  a  little  more  than  two 
millions  of  dollars,  but  its  discount  line  was  so  active  that  it 
was  able  to  do  a  business  quite  disproportioned  to  its  capital, 
the  aggregate  of  its  loans  sometimes  amounting  in  a  single 
year  to  ten  or  fifteen  millions.  I  have  said  that  its  charter 
was  in  many  respects  peculiar.  It  was  not,  like  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  a  bank  with  branches,  but  rather  a  bank  of 
branches.  It  was  a  bank  in  this  respect  only  :  it  had  a  presi 
dent,  a  cashier,  and  a  board  of  directors,  but  as  a  bank  it  trans 
acted  no  banking  business.  The  president,  who  was  ex-ojficio 
a  member  of  the  board,  was  elected  by  the  legislature,  as 
were  also  five  directors,  on  the  part  of  the  State ;  the  other 
directors  were  elected  by  the  branches,  one  by  each.  It  was 
a  board  of  control,  and  its  authority  over  the  branches  was 
arbitrary,  almost  unlimited.  It  could  suspend  a  branch  for 
mismanagement,  or  close  it  up  if  the  mismanagement  was 
likely  to  imperil  the  other  branches,  or  to  affect  injuriously 
their  credit.  The  power  to  put  a  branch  in  liquidation  was, 
however,  never  exercised,  and  only  in  one  instance  was  the 


118     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

business  of  a  branch  suspended,  and  that  suspension  was  only 
temporary. 

The  stockholders  of  each  branch  were  liable  for  the  debts 
of  the  branch  to  an  amount  equal  to  the  par  value  of  their 
shares,  and  each  branch,  although  independent  in  respect  to 
its  profits,  was  liable  for  the  debts  of  every  other  branch. 
This  responsibility  of  the  branches  for  the  debts  of  the  re 
spective  branches  created  a  general  vigilance  which  was  pro 
ductive  of  excellent  results.  No  branch  could  make  a  wide 
departure  from  the  line  of  prudent  banking  (the  other  branches 
being  responsible  for  its  debts)  without  being  subjected  to  a 
rigid  overhauling  and  incurring  the  risk  of  being  closed.  The 
circulating  notes  of  the  branches  were  obtained  from  the  V 
officers  of  the  bank,  and  there  could  be  no  over-issue  except 
by  collusion  between  them  and  the  officers  of  the  branches, 
which  was  rendered  quite  impossible  by  checks  that  could  not 
be  circumvented.  Dividends  of  the  profits  of  the  branches 
were  declared  by  the  directors  of  the  bank.  None  were 
declared  which  had  not  been  earned,  and  a  part  of  the  profits 
were  always  reserved  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  surplus 
fund.  The  amount  of  the  surplus  at  the  expiration  of  the 
charter  I  have  already  spoken  of.  Such  were  the  restrictions 
and  conservative  features  of  the  charter.  On  the  other  hand, 
its  privileges  were  of  the  most  liberal  character.  The  branches 
could  issue  circulating  notes  to  twice  the  amount  of  their 
capitals,  and  while  they  could  not  extend  their  regular  discount 
lines  beyond  twice  their  capitals,  they  could  use  their  surplus^ 
funds  in  dealings  in  foreign  and  domestic  exchange. 

Privileges  like  these,  notwithstanding  the  checks  and 
restrictions  which  were  imposed  upon  them,  might  have  been 
abused,  and  the  State  Bank  of  Indiana  might  have  shared  the 
fate  of  the  State  Bank  of  Illinois,  which,  chartered  in  the 
same  year,  disastrously  failed  in  1837,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
conservative  and  high  moral  character  of  the  men  who  con 
trolled  it.  None  of  the  directors  or  officers  of  the  bank  or  of 


A    SILVER   CIRCULATION.  119 

its  branches  had  made  banking  a  study,  or  had  any  practical 
knowledge  of  the  business,  and  yet  no  serious  mistakes  were  / 
made  by  them.  Cautious,  prudent,  upright,  they  obtained, 
step  by  step,  the  practical  knowledge  which  enabled  them  to 
bring  the  transactions  of  the  branches  into  close  accord  with 
the  public  interests,  and  to  secure  for  the  bank  a  credit  co 
extensive  with  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  which 
was  never  shaken.  Its  notes  were  current  and  of  the  best 
repute  throughout  the  Mississippi  Valley,  from  the  lakes  to 
the  Gulf.  It  suspended  specie  payments  in  1837,  as  did  all 
other  banking  institutions  of  the  country  except  the  Chemi 
cal  Bank  of  New  York,  but  it  always  furnished  New  York 
exchange  to  its  customers,  at  one  per  cent,  premium,  for  its  own 
notes  or  other  bankable  funds.  Xor  was  its  suspension  abso 
lute,  as  there  never  was  a  time  that  it  failed  to  supply  the 
home  demand  for  coin,  which  at  that  time  was  silver,  and 
practically  silver  only.  Although  the  double  standard  existed 
in  the  United  States,  the  metallic  currency  of  the  country 
chiefly,  and  throughout  the  West  exclusively,  from  the  time 
the  bank  was  organized  in  183-i  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  in  1848,  was  silver.  The  capital  of  the  bank  was 
paid  up  in  Spanish  and  Mexican  dollars,  and  its  reserve  con 
tinued  to  be  in  this  coin  until  it  was  sold  for  gold  at  a  premium 
of  about  three  per  cent,  on  Mexican  dollars  and  six  per  cent, 
on  Spanish.  I  had  been  a  banker  for  fourteen  years  before 
I  handled  or  saw  a  dollar  in  gold  except  the  ten-thaler  pieces 
which  were  brought  into  this  country  by  German  immigrants. 
If  Professor  Sumner  had  been  a  banker  at  any  time  prior  to 
1848,  he  would  not  have  gone  so  wide  of  the  mark  as  he  did 
in  saying,  in  the  1885  June  number  of  the  North  American 
Review,  "  We  do  not  want  or  need  silver  as  a  circulating 
medium,  and  shall  not  abandon  it,  because  we  never  had  it." 
We  did  have  it,  and  sooner  or  later  we  shall  have  it  again,  and 
without  its  being  degraded.  We  are  not  prepared — the  world 
is  not  prepared — for  the  demonetization  of  either  gold  or 


120     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

silver,  nor  can  this  preparation  be  brought  about  without  the 
wiping  out  of  a  very  large  part  of  public  and  private  debts. 
Debts  contracted  when  both  metals  are  used  as  money  would 
be  a  burden  too  heavy  to  be  borne  when  measured  by  a  single 
standard. 

As  has  been  seen,  the  profits  of  the  bank  were  large,  but 
the}7"  were  legitimate.  The  borrowers  paid  only  six  per  cent, 
on  the  money  which  they  borrowed,  and  the  bills  which  they 
drew  were  on  such  time  as  was  needed  for  the  transportation 
and  sale  of  the  productions  against  which  they  were  drawn. 
The  profits  in  addition  to  the  six  per  cent,  discount  were 
derived  from  the  sale  of  exchange  which  these  productions 
created  at  the  seaboard  cities.  Borrowers  obtained  money 
when  they  wanted  to  use  it,  and  the  loans  were  paid  where  the 
productions  were  disposed  of  without  prejudice  to  the  borroxv- 
ers.  There  was  never  a  more  wholesome  banking  business 

C 

done  between  banks  and  their  customers  than  was  done  by  the 
State  Bank  of  Indiana  and  its  customers  through  a  large  part 
of  its  career.  It  is  proper  for  me  to  remark  that  while  the 
ruling  rate  of  discount  on  ail  home  paper  and  on  bills  payable 
at  the  seaboard  cities  was  six  per  cent.,  the  Southern  branches 
did  charge  a  small  commission  in  addition  to  interest  on  bills 
payable  in  New  Orleans,  where  New  York  exchange  was 
sometimes  at  a  discount,  sometimes  at  a  premium. 

The  charter  of  the  bank  for  active  business  expired  on  the 
first  day  of  January,  1857,  but  its  legal  existence  for  the  wind 
ing  up  of  its  affairs  continued  until  1859,  before  which  time  it 
became  certain  that  a  considerable  amount  of  its  circulating 
notes,  widely  circulated  as  they  had  been,  would  be  outstanding 
after  its  existence  had  ceased.  In  order,  therefore,  to  prevent 
loss  to  note  holders,  and  to  maintain  the  honor  of  the  bank 
after  its  dissolution,  contracts  were  made  by  the  bank  with 
responsible  parties  for  the  redemption  of  all  notes  not  pre 
sented  in  its  lifetime. 

If  the  history  of  this  bank  should  be  written  it  would  be 


THE  BANK'S  EXCELLENT  KECOKD.  121 

both  interesting  and  instructive.  It  would  be  the  history  of  a 
bank  which,  although  established  in  a  new  State  and  commit 
ted  to  the  charge  of  inexperienced  men,  through  periods  of 
speculation  and  depression,  prosperous  and  unprosperous  years, 
was  so  managed  as  largely  to  increase  the  wealth  of  the  State, 

o  o       f 

and  secure  for  itself  a  reputation  for  honorable  dealings  and 
fidelity  to  its  engagements  which  placed  it  in  the  front  rank  of 
wisely  and  honorably  conducted  banking  institutions.  Of  its 
managers,  my  associates — some  of  them  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century — my  recollections  are  of  the  pleasantest  nature. 
More  upright,  trustworthy  men  could  not  be  found  any 
where.  There  may  have  been,  there  may  be  now,  better 
bankers ;  but,  wide  as  my  acquaintance  and  observation  have 
been,  it  has  not  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  them.  Merrill 
and  Ray,  the  president  and  cashier  of  the  bank  ;  Lanier, 
Fletcher  Blanchard,  Dunning,  Fitch,  Ball,  Rathbone,  Ross, 
Burkham,  Orr,  Rector,  Chapin  and  others,  directors  of  the 
bank  and  managers  of  the  branches,  were  all  of  them  men  of 
sterling  qualities  and  great  aptitude  for  business.  In  this  bank 
there  was  no  betrayal  of  trust,  and  only  one  single  instance 
was  there  of  official  dishonesty.  At  the  quarterly  meetings  of 
the  directors  of  the  bank  at  Indianapolis,  at  which  all  the 
branches  were  represented,  the  balances  between  the  branches 
were  adjusted.  Very  frequently  considerable  amounts  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  in  these  adjustments,  and  such  was  the  con 
fidence  which  the  directors  had  in  each  other  that  no  receipts 
were  ever  given.  Each  entered  upon  his  memorandum  book 
his  payments  and  receipts,  and  in  no  case  was  this  confidence 
found  to  have  been  misplaced. 

I  may  mention  here  a  fact  which  shows  that  the  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  what  were  then  new  States  have 
not  been  altogether  in  the  right  direction.  There  were,  in  the 
times  of  this  bank,  no  express  companies  in  the  West.  Money 
was  carried  from  place  to  place  by  its  owners  or  private  mes 
sengers.  I  have  said  that  at  the  quarterly  meetings  of  the  bank 


122  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

directors  the  accounts  between  the  branches  were  adjusted. 
It  was  at  these  meetings  also  that  the  branches  usually 
obtained  their  circulating  notes.  Every  director,  therefore,  in 
going  to  or  returning  from  these  meetings,  was  under  the  neces 
sity  of  taking  with  him  considerable  amounts  of  money,  and 
although  the  most  of  the  directors  travelled  on  horseback,  and 
were  sometimes  two  or  three  days  on  their  way,  there  was  no 
instance  of  robbery.  Fort  Wayne  was  three  good  days'  ride 
from  Indianapolis,  mostly  through  the  woods.  For  fifteen 
years  I  made  this  journey  on  horseback  and  alone,  with  thou 
sands  of  dollars  in  my  saddle-bags,  without  the  slightest  fear 
of  being  robbed.  I  was  well  known  upon  the  road,  and  it  was 
well  known  that  I  had  money  with  me,  and  a  good  deal  of  it, 
and  yet  I  rode  unarmed  through  the  woods,  and  stopped  for 
the  night  at  the  taverns  or  cabins  on  the  way,  in  perfect  safety. 
In  what  part  of  the  United  States  would  a  man  dare  to  travel 
in  this  way  now  ? 

I  am  here  reminded  of  the  reduction  which  has  been  made 
in  the  rates  of  postage.  For  eleven  years  of  the  existence  of 
the  charter  of  the  State  Bank,  postage  on  a  single  letter  for 
thirty  miles  was  six  and  a  quarter  cents;  over  thirty  and 
under  eighty,  ten  cents  ;  over  eighty  and  under  one  hundred 
and  fifty,  twelve  and  a  half  cents  ;  over  one  hundred  and  fifty 
and  under  four  hundred,  eighteen  and  three  quarter  cents  ; 
and  over  four  hundred,  twenty-five  cents  ;  and  the  same  rates 
for  every  inclosure  no  matter  how  small,  and  four  times  these 
rates  if  the  letter  weighed  over  one  ounce.  The  post-office 
clerks  seemed  to  have  great  skill  in  ascertaining  how  many 
pieces  a  letter  contained.  Rarely  indeed  did  the  Government 
fail  to  get  all  that  it  was  entitled  to.  On  a  very  large  propor 
tion  of  the  letters  received  from  the  seaboard  States  at  the 
Fort  Wayne  branch  prior  to  1845,  the  postage  was  a  dollar 
and  upwards.  In  1845  the  rates  were  reduced  more  than 
fifty  per  cent.,  a  reduction  which,  according  to  the  predictions 
of  the  opponents  of  the  measure,  would  bankrupt  the  Post- 


THE   POSTAGE   REDUCTION.  123 

Office  Department,  if  it  did  not  the  Treasury.  Little  did  those 
who  advocated  the  reduction  think  that  in  less  than  forty 
years  two  cents  would  carry  a  letter  weighing  an  ounce  across 
the  continent.  Nothing  shows  better  the  growth  of  the  coun 
try  than  a  comparison  of  our  present  postal  system  with  that 
which  existed  half  a  century  ago,  nor  more  clearly  how  cheap 
ness  increases  use. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  upon  the  State  Bank  of  Indi 
ana,  because  it  was  one  of  the  best-managed  banking  institu 
tions  of  its  day,  and  because  there  is  scarcely  any  part  of  a 
long  and  busy  life  which  I  look  back  upon  with  more  real 
satisfaction  than  that  which  was  spent  in  its  service.  Of  those 
who  were  prominent  in  connection  with  the  bank,  the  only 
one  who  left  it  and  the  State  to  enter  into  business  elsewhere 
was  Mr.  J.  F.  D.  Lanier,  who  resigned  the  presidency  of  the 
branch  at  Madison  and  his  directorship  of  the  bank,  to  estab 
lish  with  Mr.  Winslow,  a  gentleman  of  high  financial  standing, 
the  banking  house  of  Winslow,  Lanier  &  Co.  In  this  new 
field  Mr.  Lanier  displayed  the  knowledge  of  men  and  of  busi 
ness  which  he  had  acquired  in  Indiana,  and  the  quickness  of 
apprehension  and  decision  for  which  he  had  been  there  distin 
guished — qualities  essential  to  success  in  a  city  celebrated  not 
only  for  the  magnitude  but  the  celerity  of  its  transactions; 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  house  of  Winslow,  Lanier  & 
Co.  stood  in  the  front  rank  among  the  great  banking  houses 
of  New  York.  Mr.  Lanier  was  not  only  a  man  of  great  finan 
cial  ability,  but  one  whose  open  manners,  social  disposition, 
and  excellent  character  commanded  the  esteem  of  those  who 
became  his  intimates  in  private  life. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Demand  for  more  Banking  Capital — Free  Banking  Authorized — Manner  in 
which  it  was  Conducted — Its  Failure — Bill  Chartering  the  Bank  of  the 
State  of  Indiana  Passed  over  the  Governor's  Veto — Manner  in  which  its 
Stock  was  Subscribed  for— The  Control  Passes  into  Hands  of  Managers  of 
the  Old  Bank — I  Become  its  President — Commencement  of  Business, 
January,  1857 — Failure  of  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company  of  Cincinnati 
— General  Suspension  of  the  Banks — The  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana 
Maintains  its  Integrity  and  Saves  its  Charter— Authorized  by  Opinion  of 
the  Supreme  Court  to  Redeem  its  Notes  in  Legal  Tenders— Good  Behavior 
of  the  Banks  of  New  Orleans. 

r  I  ^HE  State  Bank  of  Indiana  was  a  monopoly.  During  its 
1  existence  no  other  bank  could  be  chartered,  no  other 
banking  system  could  be  authorized.  In  the  mean  time 
the  business  and  population  of  the  State  had  very  largely 
increased,  and  railroads  had  begun  to  make  important  changes 
in  the  commercial  advantages  of  the  towns.  Some  towns 
in  which  branches  of  the  bank  were  established  were  being 
outstripped  by  towns  that  were  hardly  known  when  the  bank 
was  chartered.  As  a  consequence  a  popular  sentiment,  seem 
ingly  irresistible,  had  been  created  before  the  expiration  of 
the  charter  of  the  bank,  that  there  ought  to  be  what  was 
called  "  a  new  shuffle  and  deal "  in  the  banking  business  of  the 
State.  The  convention  for  the  revision  of  the  constitution  had 
refused  to  authorize  an  extension  of  the  charter  of  the  bank, 
and  the  directors  were  satisfied  that  a  charter  of  another  bank 
with  liberal  privileges  could  not  be  obtained  without  influences 
which  they  would  be  unable  or  unwilling  to  bring  to  bear  upon 
the  legislature.  They  therefore,  without  a  dissenting  opinion, 
resolved  to  retire  gracefully  from  the  field  which  they  had 
occupied  and  monopolized  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
and  leave  it  open  to  free  banking,  which  had  been  authorized 


FREE   BANKING.  125 

by  the  new  constitution,  and  for  which  there  seemed  to  be  a 
growing  popular  demand  throughout  the  West.  An  act  was 
passed  by  the  legislature  authorizing  the  organization  of  free 
banks,  but  so  near  was  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the 
State  Bank,  that  it  was  not  thought  advisable  by  the  directors 
to  test  the  validity  of  the  act  by  any  legal  proceedings.  By 
this  Free  Bank  act  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  State  Treasurer 
to  receive  from  banks  organized  in  conformity  with  its  pro 
vision  bonds  of  the  State  and  other  States,  and  to  issue  there 
for  notes  prepared  at  the  expense  of  the  banks  to  the  full 
amount  of  the  bonds.  As  the  times  were  flush,  and  credit 
easily  obtained,  anybody  who  could  command  two  or  three 
thousand  dollars  of  money  could  buy  on  a  margin  the  bonds 
necessary  to  establish  a  bank,  to  be  paid  for  in  its  notes  after 
its  organization  had  been  completed.  Many  of  these  free 
banks  came  into  existence  with  no  more  actual  cash  capital 
than  was  required  to  cover  the  engravers'  bills,  and  to  pay  for 
the  scanty  furniture  of  rented  banking  rooms.  After  they 
were  thus  started,  the  way  was  clear  for  rapidly  increasing  if 
not  for  unlimited  issues. 

A  single  case  illustrates  the  operation  of  free  banking 
in  Indiana  under  the  first  Free  Bank  act.  An  enterprising 
gentleman,  whose  cash  capital  did  not  exceed  ten  thousand 
dollars,  in  connection  with  two  others  who  were  utterly  impe 
cunious,  bought,  mostly  on  credit,  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  the 
bonds  of  one  of  the  Southern  States.  These  bonds  he  deposited 
with  the  treasurer,  and  as  soon  as  they  could  be  engraved  he 
received  an  equal  amount  of  notes,  with  which  he  paid  for  the 
bonds.  This  transaction  having  been  completed,  more  bonds 
were  bought  and  paid  for  in  the  same  manner ;  and  the  opera 
tion  was  continued  until  the  financial  crisis  of  1857  occurred; 
at  which  time  this  bank,  which  had  been  started  with  a  capital 
of  ten  thousand  dollars,  had  a  circulation  of  six  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars,  secured  by  State  bonds,  on  which  the  bank  had 
for  two  or  three  years  been  receiving  the  interest.  After  the 


126     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

country  had  recovered  from  the  general  depression  which  fol 
lowed  the  collapse  in  1837,  which  recovery  was  not  fully 
reached  until  1844,  there  was  a  period  of  great  prosperity  in 
all  branches  of  productive  industry,  which  stimulated  enter 
prise  and  created  unusual  demands  for  currency.  At  the  same 
time  there  was  little  demand  for  coin  for  exportation,  and  con 
sequently  bank  notes  were  rarely  presented  for  redemption. 
Hence  it  was  that  these  free  banks,  organized  as  most  of  them 
were  as  banks  of  circulation  only,  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  put 
out  their  notes  and  draw  interest  on  their  bonds.  Their  life 
was  pleasant  but  short;  their  demise  ruinous  and  shameful. 
As  soon  as  their  notes  began  to  be  presented  for  payment  they 
died  without  a  struggle.  When  the  crash  came,  State  bonds 
declined  rapidly  in  market  value,  and  the  bank  notes  nominally 
secured  by  them  declined  still  more  rapidly,  and  the  unfortu 
nate  holders  became  the  victims  of  money  dealers  who,  being 
advised  on  what  bonds  the  notes  had  been  issued,  could  form  a 
correct  opinion  of  their  value,  and  who  never  failed  to  use  this 
knowledge  for  their  own  advantage  and  with  severe  loss  to  the 
holders  of  the  notes. 

Upon  the  failure  of  a  bank  the  treasurer  offered  to  surren 
der  the  bonds,  dollar  for  dollar,  for  the  notes  which  they  were 
pledged  to  secure.  The  money  dealers  were  prompt  in  avail 
ing  themselves  of  this  offer.  Never  was  so  active  and  profit 
able  a  business  done  by  the  brokers  of  Cincinnati,  Indianapolis, 
and  other  cities  as  was  done  by  them  in  buying,  assorting  and 
exchanging  with  each  other  the  notes  of  the  suspended  banks, 
and  in  receiving  for  them  the  bonds  which  were  held  by  the 
treasurer.  The  brokers  were  enriched  by  the  operation  ;  the 
losers  were  the  note  holders,  and  these,  as  is  usually  the  case 
in  bank  failures,  were  mostly  of  that  class  which  is  the  least 
able  to  bear  losses.  The  experience  of  Illinois  in  the  working 
of  free  banking  was  similar  to  that  of  Indiana.  The  acts  of 
both  States  which  authorized  it  lacked  all  the  conservative 
provisions  which  have  made  the  national  banking  system  sue- 


BANK    OF   THE   STATE   OF   INDIANA.  127 

cessful,  and  the  result  was  what  might  have  been  anticipated. 
The  losses  of  these  States  by  the  experiment  amounted  to  mil 
lions  of  dollars,  and  yet  the  growth  of  the  States  was  not 
greatly  retarded  by  them.  Toothing  could  better  illustrate 
their  resources  and  the  energy  of  their  people. 

But  while  the  directors  of  the  State  Bank  had  determined 
to  retire  from  the  field,  a  number  of  active  and  influential 
politicians  of  both  parties  formed  what  would  now  be  called  a 
"  syndicate  "  to  obtain  a  charter  for  another  bank,  to  take  the 
place  of  the  State  Bank,  and  similar  to  it  in  its  most  important 
features.  To  accomplish  their  object,  they  used  the  personal 
and  political  influence  which  they  possessed  to  secure  the  elec 
tion  to  the  legislature  of  1854  and  1855  of  men  who  were,  or 
might  be  induced  to  be,  friendly  to  their  object.  There  was 
no  important  political  election  then  pending,  and  the  work  was 
done  so  quietly  that  a  majority  favorable  to  the  measure  was 
obtained  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature  without  any  agi 
tation  of  the  question  in  the  canvass.  Early  in  the  session  a 
carefully  prepared  bill  to  establish  "  The  Bank  of  the  State  of 
Indiana "  was  introduced  in  the  Senate,  and  passed  without 
serious  opposition.  In  the  House  strong  objections  were  raised 
to  it  by  some  influential  members,  and  for  some  days  its  fate 
seemed  to  outsiders  to  be  doubtful ;  but  its  friends  were  stronger 
than  its  opponents,  and  it  passed  the  House  as  it  had  passed  the 
Senate,  by  a  decided  majority.  It  was-  known  that  the  Gov 
ernor  was  hostile  to  the  bill,  and  personally  hostile  to  some  of 
its  promoters.  It  was  returned  to  the  Senate  with  a  spirited 
veto  message,  which  might  have  defeated  it,  if  its  promoters 
had  not  taken  into  consideration  the  opposition  of  the  Governor 
in  estimating  and  securing  the  number  of  votes  that  would  be 
needed  to  render  his  objections  of  no  avail.  It  passed  both 
houses,  and  became  a  law  on  the  3d  of  March,  1855,  the  Gov 
ernor's  objection  to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding. 

The  bill,  as  I  have  said,  was  carefully  drawn,  and  in  many 
important  respects  it  was  a  counterpart  of  the  charter  of  the 


128     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

State  Bank.  The  difference  in  the  two  charters  was  mainly  in 
the  facts  that  the  State  was  not  to  be  stockholder  in  the  new 
bank  ;  that  the  number  of  the  branches  was  to  be  twenty, 
instead  of  thirteen,  its  authorized  capital  six  millions  of  dol 
lars,  instead  of  two  millions,  and  that  the  president  was  to  be 
elected  by  the  directors.  It  was  a  very  valuable  charter,  and  the 
promoters  of  the  bill  immediately  took  the  necessary  steps  to 
secure  for  themselves  the  result  of  their  exertions  and  expendi 
tures.  A  majority  of  the  promoters  did  not  intend  to  become 
bankers.  Their  object  was  to  sell  the  franchise  after  having 
secured  the  control  of  the  stock.  To  obtain  this  control  they 
were  prepared.  The  incorporators  (commissioners,  as  they 
were  called)  were  their  personal  friends ;  some  of  them  were 
interested  in  the  enterprise.  It  was  their  duty  to  divide  the 
State  into  districts,  to  locate  a  branch  in  each  district  and, 
other  things  being  equal,  in  the  same  county  in  which  there 
was  a  branch  of  the  State  Bank,  and  to  appoint  sub-commis 
sioners  to  open  books  for  subscriptions  to  the  stock.  The  capi 
tal  stock  of  the  bank  was  to  be  divided  into  shares  of  $50  each, 
and  no  branch  was  to  be  organized  until  stock  to  the  amount 
of  $100,000  had  been  subscribed,  to  be  paid  for  in  instalments, 
the  first  instalment  to  be  two  dollars,  which  was  to  be  paid  to 
the  sub-commissioners  when  the  subscription  was  made.  Ample 
notice  was  to  be  given  of  the  time  and  place  at  which  the  sub 
scription  books  were  to  be  opened,  which  were  to  be  kept  open 
for  thirty  days,  if  the  requisite  amount  of  stock  should  not 
sooner  be  subscribed. 

All  of  these  requirements  of  the  charter  were  complied 
with.  The  sub-commissioners  were  appointed,  the  proper 
notices  were  given,  and  the  books  were  opened,  but  they  were 
kept  open  only  long  enough  to  enable  one  or  two  representa 
tives  of  the  promoters  to  subscribe  for  the  full  amount  of  the 
authorized  capital.  This  having  been  done,  the  books  were 
closed  ;  the  first  instalment  (two  dollars  per  share)  was  paid  to 
the  sub-commissioners,  and  the  promoters  became  the  owners 


ORGANIZATION    OF   THE   BANK.  129 

of  one  of  the  best  bank  charters  that  had  ever  been  granted  in 
the  United  States.  All  this  was  accomplished  in  the  summer 
of  1855,  and  as  business  was  not  to  be  commenced  until  the 
first  of  January,  1857,  the  promoters,  now  the  stockholders, 
had  ample  time  to  dispose  of  the  stock  or  to  make  the  neces 
sary  preparations  for  putting  the  branches  into  active  opera 
tion.  Xothing  was  done  in  either  direction  until  the  follow 
ing  spring.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  stock  of  the 
branches  had  been  divided  among  those  who  had  been  instru 
mental  in  obtaining  the  charter  and  in  completing  the  organ 
ization  of  the  bank.  The  charter  required  that  the  residue  of 
the  stock  should  be  paid  in  such  instalments  as  the  branch 
directors  might  call  for,  but  that  not  less  than  $100,000  should 
be  required  to  be  paid  into  each  branch  before  the  first  of 
January,  1857.  As  has  been  stated,  the  promoters  were  not 
bankers.  Few  of  them  had  money  to  invest  in  banking,  and 
it  soon  appeared  that  all  but  three  of  the  branches  were  owned 
by  men  who  would  not  be  prepared  to  meet  the  $48  per  share 
as  it  might  be  called  for,  and  that  seventeen  of  the  branches 
were  for  sale.  Their  owners,  although  not  capitalists,  were 
men  of  good  standing.  Some  of  them  were  prominent  poli 
ticians,  who  expected  to  be  still  more  prominent ;  all  were 
respectable  citizens  of  the  State,  and  consequently  they  were 
not  disposed  to  sell  to  non-residents,  nor  to  any  persons  who 
would  not  be.  able  to  make  the  Bank  of  the  State  a  worthy 
successor  of  the  State  Bank. 

Under  these  circumstances  they  concluded  that  the  only 
creditable  and  safe  course  for  them  to  pursue  was  to  open  nego 
tiations  with  some  of  the  prominent  directors  of  the  old  bank. 
A  conference  was  held,  in  accordance  with  this  conclusion, 
between  three  or  four  men  on  each  side,  the  result  of  which 
was  a  proposition  for  the  sale  of  seventeen  of  the  branches, 
and  a  couple  of  weeks  were  given  for  its  consideration.  Within 
that  time  the  proposition  was  accepted,  but  with  the  condi 
tion  that  the  directors  of  the  bank  should,  at  the  approaching 


130  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

May  session,  make  me  its  president.  This  was  done,  and  with 
all  possible  speed  the  transfers  of  stock  were  effected,  and  the 
new  bank  passed  under  the  control  of  the  men  who  had  con 
trolled  the  old  one,  and  of  other  well-known  citizens  of  Indiana. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  say  what  premium  was  paid  for 
the  stock,  except  that  it  varied  according  to  the  location  of  the 
branches,  and  that  the  bargain  was  entirely  satisfactory  both 
to  sellers  and  buyers.  The  honor  of  being  president  of  the  new 
bank  was  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  the  purchase  of  its  stock 
by  men  with  whom  I  had  been  associated  for  more  than  twenty 
years  was  upon  the  condition  that  I  should  be  elected  to  that 
important  office. 

I  had  been  tolerably  hard  worked  before,  but  the  real  hard 
work  of  my  life  commenced  with  my  election  to  the  presidency 
of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana.  Within  a  period  of  seven 
months  twenty  branches,  seven  of  them  in  new  hands,  each 
with  a  capital  of  not  less  than  $100,000,  were  to  be  ready  for 
business.  Books  were  to  be  obtained  and  properly  opened. 
Bank  notes  were  to  be  engraved  and  signed  by  me  in  readiness 
for  delivery  to  the  branches,  before  or  soon  after  the  first  of 
January  following.  In  addition  to  my  various  duties  as  presi 
dent  of  the  bank,  my  attention  was  required  in  the  organ 
ization  of  the  new  branch  at  Fort  Wayne,  and  in  the  winding 
up  of  the  old  one ;  so  that  at  a  time  when  rest  would  have 
been  agreeable,  I  was  overwhelmed  with  work  which  only 
habits  of  industry  and  vigorous  health  enabled  me  to  perform. 
The  charter  required,  as  did  the  charter  of  the  State  Bank, 
that  all  the  circulating  notes  supplied  to  the  branches  should 
be  signed  by  the  president.  No  one  wTho  has  not  had  a  trial 
of  it  can  have  any  conception  of  the  unmitigated  wearisome- 
ness  of  signing  one's  name  day  after  day  and  week  after  week. 
My  self-imposed  limit  was  a  thousand  sheets  (four  thousand 
signatures)  a  day.  For  a  single  day,  even  with  a  name  as  dif 
ficult  to  write  rapidly  as  mine,  this  would  not  be  a  hard  task  ; 
but  to  follow  it  for  weeks  and  months,  as  I  did  in  the  autumn 


CAUSES   OF   BANK   FAILURES.  131 

of  1856,  would,  if  it  were  a  punishment,  be  too  inhuman  to  be 
inflicted  upon  the  most  guilty  of  criminals.  The  work,  how 
ever,  irksome  as  it  was,  was  performed.  Four  millions  of  dol 
lars  in  circulating  notes,  a  considerable  part  of  which  were  in 
ones  and  twos,  were  signed  and  delivered  to  the  branches  before 
the  first  of  January,  1857,  or  soon  after.  This  uncomfortable 
work  did  not  end  with  furnishing  the  branches  with  the  notes 
to  which  they  were  entitled  at  the  start.  The  increase  of 
capital  and  the  necessity  of  issuing  clean  notes  in  exchange 
for  those  which  became  defaced,  compelled  me  to  give  a  good 
deal  of  time  to  signing  notes  as  long  as  I  wras  connected  with 
the  bank,  and  it  tried  my  patience  almost  beyond  endurance. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1857,  the  Bank  of  the  State 
of  Indiana,  with  a  capital  of  two  millions  of  dollars,  soon  to  be 
increased  to  three  millions,  commenced  its  short  but  honorable 
career.  In  the  negotiations  between  the  buyers  and  sellers, 
three  of  the  branches  were  not  included  in  the  sale,  and  these 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  original  owners.  Respectable 
and  intelligent  men  they  were,  but  I  soon  discovered  that 
their  notions  of  banking  were  widely  different  from  mine.  To 
them  a  bank  was  an  institution,  the  officers  and  directors  of 
which  were  to  be  privileged  borrowers.  Time  and  discipline, 
and,  in  one  instance,  the  exercise  of  the  plenary  power  of  the 
Board  of  Control  (the  directors  of  the  bank)  were  required 
to  make  such  men  comprehend  the  simple  but  all-important 
principle  that  lenders  and  borrowers  could  not  safely  be  the 
same  persons,  and  that  in  this  bank  men  whose  necessities 
or  business  required  that  they  should  be  borrowers  from  the 
branches  ought  not  to  be,  and  would  not  be  permitted  to  be, 
their  managers.  Bank  failures  are  invariably  the  result  of 
a  disregard  of  this  rule.  'No  bank  in  the  United  States,  the 
capital  of  which  was  a  cash  reality,  and  whose  managers  were 
not  thieves  or  the  borrowers  of  its  money,  has  ever  failed. 
All  bank  failures  are  fraudulent,  either  by  mismanagement  or 
deception  in  regard  to  capital,  and  all  who  are  responsible  for 


132     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

such  failures  are  betrayers  of  trusts,  and  should  be  punished  as 
criminals. 

The  year  in  which  the  Bank  of  the  State  commenced  busi 
ness  opened  for  it  auspiciously.  Known  to  be  under  the  con 
trol  of  the  same  men  who  had  so  successfully  managed  the  affairs 
of  its  predecessor,  its  credit  was  high  from  the  start.  Busi 
ness  was  active,  and  the  circulation  and  discount  lines  of  the 
branches  rapidly  expanded  under  a  healthy  demand  for  money. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Control  in  Indianapolis  on  the 
second  Monday  of  August,  the  reports  of  the  examiners  of  the 
branches  were  carefully  scrutinized,  and  the  general  condition 
of  the  bank  was  as  carefully  considered.  All  but  three  of  the 
branches  were  under  excellent  management,  with  ample  means 
for  a  liberal  increase  of  their  discounts  to  meet  the  usual 
autumnal  demand  for  money.  An  abundant  wheat  crop  had 
been  harvested,  and  the  later  crops  were  unusually  promising. 
The  commercial  outlook  was  assuring ;  there  was  not  a  cloud 
in  sight  to  indicate  a  financial  storm,  and  the  board  adjourned 
with  the  understanding  between  the  directors  that  all  legiti 
mate  demands  for  money  should  be  met,  as  far  as  might  be 
practicable.  Scarcely,  howrever,  had  the  board  adjourned  and 
the  directors  left  the  city,  when  I  received  a  telegram  from 
Winslow,  Lanier  &  Co.,  which  announced  the  suspension  of 
the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company  of  Cincinnati,  one  of  the 
largest  financial  institutions  of  the  West,  with  an  agency  in 
New  York.  A  few  minutes  after  I  received  another  telegram, 
advising  me  that  the  suspension  would  be  only  temporary. 
This  was  soon  followed  by  another,  in  these  words :  "  Suspen 
sion  a  failure,  and  a  bad  one."  The  intelligence  was  astound 
ing.  It  was  a  bolt  from  a  cloudless  sky.  The  Ohio  Life  and 
Trust  Company  had  enjoyed  the  highest  credit.  Its  home 
business  had  been  managed  in  the  most  careful  manner.  It 
had  been  distinguished  for  its  conservatism.  Its  directors,  who 
were  among  its  largest  stockholders,  met  every  day  to  pass 
upon  the  offering  for  discount.  Not  a  bill  or  note,  no  matter 


FAILUEE   OF   THE   BANK.  133 

how  small,  was  discounted  without  their  approval.  It  had 
thus  acquired  a  high  reputation,  and  secured  large  deposits. 
But  while  its  business  was  being  thus  carefully  and  judiciously 
conducted  at  home,  its  agent  in  New  York,  who,  strangely 
enough,  had  been  clothed  with  unlimited  powers,  was  engaged 
in  speculative  operations  on  a  gigantic  scale,  by  which  the 
entire  capital  and  surplus  of  the  bank,  and  a  large  part  of  the 
money  of  its  depositors,  were  hopelessly  lost. 

The  bank  was  ruined  by  its  New  York  agent,  while  its 
directors  supposed  it  to  be  perfectly  sound  and  eminently  pros 
perous.  The  failure  of  this  bank  created  a  panic,  the  sharpest 
and  most  widespread  that  had  ever  been  known.  It  came 
without  premonition  ;  it  was  a  financial  sirocco  which  at  once 
dried  up  the  springs  of  confidence  and  faith.  Those  who  had 
money  held  it  with  the  grip  of  misers.  Trust  ceased  ;  confi 
dence  between  men,  confidence  in  everything  but  money,  and 
hard  money  at  that,  disappeared.  Men  who  were  worth  mil 
lions  could  not  raise  the  few  thousands  that  were  needed  to 
save  them  from  discredit.  Distrust,  as  general  as  it  was  cause 
less,  pervaded  the  country.  All  of  the  Eastern  banks  except 
the  Chemical  Bank  of  New  York,  which  wreathered  the  storm 
twenty  years  before,  and  all  of  the  Western  banks  except  the 
Kentucky  banks  and  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  sus 
pended  specie  payments.  All  of  the  private  banking  houses  of 
which  I  had  any  knowledge  except  that  of  Allen  Hamilton  & 
Co.,  at  Fort  Wayne,  in  which  I  )vas  a  partner,  and  one  or  two 
in  Indianapolis,  were  compelled  to  close  their  doors.  It  is  true 
that  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio  continued  nominally  to  redeem  its 
notes,  but  only  nominally.  Its  capital  was  locked  up  in  the 
Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company,  and  it  was  so  crippled  by  the 
failure  of  that  bank  that  even  the  brokers  forbore  to  return  its 
notes.  The  Kentucky  banks  did  not  suspend,  but  nearly  all 
of  their  notes  were  issued  by  branches  situated  at  places  so 
remote  from  the  principal  thoroughfares  that  they  were  not 
often  visited  by  brokers  or  their  runners.  To  the  branches  of 


134  MEN   AND    MEASURES   OF  HALF   A    CENTURY. 

the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana  there  was  no  such  protection. 
All  of  its  branches  were  accessible  by  rail,  and  in  two  or  three 
days  after  the  failure  of  the  Life  and  Trust  Company,  their 
notes  commanded  a  premium  over  the  notes  of  all  other 
Western  banks.  In  a  couple  of  weeks  the  premium  reached 
three  per  cent,  over  the  notes  of  the  Kentucky  banks,  and 
five  per  cent,  over  the  notes  of  the  State  Bank  of  Ohio,  in  Cin 
cinnati,  which  was  then  the  financial  centre  of  the  West.  As 
a  consequence  the  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  flowed 
rapidly  thither,  and  were  as  rapidly  sent  home  for  coin. 

My  position  was  a  trying  one.  The  charter  Avas  very  valu 
able,  and  it  became  subject  to  forfeiture  upon  the  failure  of  the 
bank  to  meet  its  obligations  in  coin.  The  manner  in  which  it 
had  been  obtained  precluded  any  well-grounded  hope  that  a 
suspension  of  specie  payments  would  be  sanctioned  by  the 
legislature.  There  was  really  no  alternative.  Specie  pay 
ments  must  be  maintained,  or  the  charter  would  be  forfeited. 
There  was  no  danger  of  large  calls  for  coin  from  depositors. 
Many  of  them  were  borrowers,  and  there  was  a  tacit  under 
standing  between  the  branches  and  their  customers  that 
deposits  of  bank  notes  were  payable  in  bank  notes.  There 
was,  however,  apparently  great  danger  that  some  of  the 
branches  might  be  unable,  without  assistance  from  other 
branches,  to  redeem  their  notes  in  coin.  I  received  each  day 
at  my  office  at  Indianapolis,  by  telegraph  or  messenger  from 
each  branch,  a  statement  of  its  redemption  and  of  its  coin  and 
other  cash  means.  For  three  or  four  weeks  the  calls  upon  the 
branches  were  so  continuous  and  heavy  that  it  seemed  prob 
able  that  their  entire  circulation  would  be  sent  home  ;  but  this 
extremity  was  not  reached.  In  the  fifth  week  of  the  panic 
there  was  an  improvement  in  the  financial  outlook.  Gold 
failed  to  command  such  a  premium  in  New  York  as  to  make 
it  profitable  for  the  brokers  of  Cincinnati  to  assort  and  return 
the  notes  of  the  most  remote  branches.  Calls  upon  the  neigh 
boring  branches  continued  for  a  week  or  two  longer,  and  then 


THE   SUSPENSION   OF   SPECIE   PAYMENTS.  135 

ceased  altogether.  The  crisis  had  been  passed — the  charter 
was  safe.  In  two  months  from  the  commencement  of  the 
panic  some  of  the  strongest  of  the  branches  resumed  their 
usual  business.  In  three  months  all  were  under  full  headway, 
and  with  credit  strengthened  and  improved  by  the  manner  in 
which  they  had  met  their  obligations.  From  that  time  to  the 
commencement  of  the  civil  war  the  business  of  the  bank  was 
healthy  and  prosperous. 

South  Carolina  led  the  way  in  the  attempted  secession  of 
the  Southern  States.  Her  example  was  soon  followed  by  other 
States,  but  there  was  no  financial  disturbance,  until  it  became 
apparent  that  the  nation  was  to  be  involved  in  a  civil  war,  the 
extent  and  duration  of  which  could  not  be  foreseen.  For  a 
considerable  time,  even  after  the  war  had  begun,  the  specie 
standard  was  maintained,  and  hopes  were  indulged  that  the 
war  might  be  prosecuted  on  a  specie  basis.  These  hopes  were 
dissipated  by  the  action  of  Secretary  Chase  in  his  dealings  writh 
the  'New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Boston  banks,  which  had 
agreed  to  advance  to  the  Government  on  its  seven  and  three- 
tenth  notes  $150,000,000  ($50,000,000  in  August,  $50,000,000 
in  October,  and  $50,000,000  in  November,  1861),  under  the  ex 
pectation  that  the  Treasury  drafts  for  the  money  would  be  pre 
sented  through  the  clearing-houses,  and  be  paid  without  large 
reductions  of  their  coin.  The  Secretary  did  not,  however,  feel 
at  liberty  to  meet  their  expectations,  and  the  drain  upon  their 
coin  reserve  soon  became  so  heavy  that  they  were  forced  to  sus 
pend  specie  payments.  Their  suspension  was  soon  followed  by 
the  suspension  of  nearly  all  the  banks  in  the  country.  As  a  con 
sequence,  specie  commanded  a  premium,  and  the  directors  of 
the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana  were  not  slow  in  coming  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  circulation  of  the  bank  must  be  retired. 
The  premium  which  specie  commanded  at  Cincinnati  was 
small,  but  it  was  large  enough  to  induce  the  brokers  of  that 
citv  to  assort  and  send  home  the  notes  of  the  branches  for 


136  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

gold,  which  was  then  the  only  legal  tender  in  circulation. 
There  was  no  panic,  but  property  of  nearly  all  descriptions 
began  to  be  depressed  in  market  value,  and  a  feeling  of  dis 
trust  pervaded  the  country.  The  managers  of  the  branches 
were  therefore  instructed  to  redeem  promptly  in  coin  all  notes 
that  might  be  presented ;  to  anticipate  and  prevent  their 
return,  as  far  as  might  be  practicable,  by  taking  them  up  at 
commercial  points  with  other  cash  means;  to  make  arrange 
ments  with  depositors  by  which  deposits  of  gold  should  be 
paid  in  gold,  deposits  of  bank  notes  should  be  paid  in  bank 
notes,  and  to  be  thus  prepared  for  any  crisis  that  might  occur. 
These  instructions  were  promptly  obeyed.  In  a  few  weeks 
the  larger  part  of  the  circulating  notes  of  the  branches  were 
at  rest  in  their  vaults,  and  the  business  of  the  branches  was 
reduced  to  what  could  be  safely  done  upon  their  capitals  and 
deposits.  It  was,  of  course,  impossible  that  this  should  have 
been  effected  without  inconvenience  to  borrowers  and  inter 
ruption  to  trade ;  but  the  action  of  the  bank  directors  was  judi 
cious,  and  it  commanded  the  approbation  of  even  those  who 
were  incommoded  by  it.  The  business  of  the  bank  was  thus 
conducted  until  some  time  after  the  passage  of  the  legal-ten 
der  acts  of  1862,  and  the  legal-tender  notes  had  become  a  sub 
stitute  for  coin.  The  question,  Can  these  notes  be  lawfully 
used  by  the  branches  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  in  the  redemp 
tion  of  their  circulating  notes?  then  became  a  question  of  great 
interest,  not  only  to  the  bank,  but  to  the  State.  By  the  char 
ter,  the  obligations  of  the  bank  could  be  discharged  only  by 
coin.  The  legal-tender  notes  had  been  declared  by  Congress 
to  be  lawful  money  in  all  payments,  except  at  the  custom 
houses.  Could  they  be  regarded  as  lawful  money  in  the  dis 
charge  of  the  coin  obligations  of  the  bank  ?  This  question 
could  only  be  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  and 
it  was  quite  important  that  a  decision  should  be  made  before 
any  risk  had  been  incurred.  I  therefore  waited  upon  Judge 
Perkins,  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  was 


LEGAL   TENDER  IN   INDIANA.  137 

not  only  eminent  as  a  judge,  but  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest 
order,  explained  to  him  the  condition  of  the  bank,  and  that  its 
inability  to  maintain  circulation  upon  a  gold  basis  (gold  then 
being  at  a  premium  over  legal-tender  notes)  was  preventing  it 
from  doing  what  it  was  important  it  should  do  in  aid  of  the 
business  of  the  State.  I  informed  him  that  all  the  other  banks 
of  the  country  were  treating  the  legal-tender  notes  (green 
backs,  as  they  were  called,)  as  lawful  money,  and  using  them 
in  the  discharge  of  their  coin  obligations,  and  that  the  Bank  of 
the  State  was  desirous  of  doing  the  same,  if  it  would  not  be  in 
violation  of  the  requirements  of  its  charter ;  and  I  then  asked 
him  whether  the  Supreme  Court,  if  the  question  should  be 
presented  in  a  case  involving  it,  would  order  the  case  to  be 
advanced  upon  the  docket,  in  order  that  a  decision  might  be 
expected  at  an  early  day.  Without  a  moment's  hesitation,  he 
replied  that  he  could  not  answer  for  his  associates,  but  that  he 
thought  the  question  a  very  important  one,  and  that  he  had 
very  little  doubt  that  such  an  order  would  be  made.  The  next 
day  a  fifty-dollar  note,  issued  by  the  branch  at  Indianapolis,  was 
presented  for  payment  in  coin.  Instead  of  coin,  legal-tender 
notes  were  offered  in  payment,  which  were  refused.  A  suit 
was  immediately  commenced  against  the  bank  in  the  Circuit 
Court,  and  as  the  question  involved  wras  regarded  by  the  judge 
as  one  of  great  public  interest,  the  case  took  precedence  of  all 
others.  As  the  facts  were  agreed  upon  by  the  counsel  on 
both  sides,  the  trial  was  a  short  one.  I  do  not  now  recollect 
how  the  case  was  decided  by  the  Circuit  judge,  but  an  appeal 
was  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  case  was,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Joseph  McDonald,  counsel  for  the  bank,  advanced  upon 
the  docket  and  immediately  taken  up.  Arguments  on  both 
sides  were  listened  to  with  great  interest  (the  argument  of 
Mr.  McDonald  was  a  very  ingenious  and  able  one),  and  in  the 
course  of  a  week  or  two  the  court  decided  (there  was  no  dis 
senting  opinion)  that  the  legal-tender  acts  were  constitutional ; 
that  the  United  States  notes  were  lawful  money,  and  could  be 


138  MEN   AND   MEASUKES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

used  by  the  bank  in  the  payment  of  its  notes  without  a  viola 
tion  of  its  charter.  It  is  my  impression  that  this  decision  was 
the  first  decision  by  a  court  of  high  standing  in  favor  of  the 
power  of  Congress  to  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  law 
ful  money.  This  decision  was  a  very  advantageous  one  to  the 
bank,  as  it  enabled  it  not  only  to  extend  its  business,  but  to 
strengthen  its  position.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  board  of 
directors,  I  advised  that  the  notes  which  had  been  so  lono- 

o 

resting  in  the  vaults  of  the  branches  should  be  put  into  active 
use.  As,  however,  I  feared  that  the  war  in  which  the  country 
was  engaged  would  be  protracted,  and  might  cause  a  large 
appreciation  of  gold  or  depreciation  of  the  legal-tender  notes, 
if  not  great  financial  disturbance,  I  also  advised  that  every 
dollar  of  the  means  of  the  branches  not  absolutely  needed  in 
their  regular  business  should  be  used  in  the  purchase  of  gold. 
This  advice  was  followed.  The  premium  on  gold  was  then 
only  about  one  and  a  half  per  cent.,  so  that  no  great  expense 
was  incurred  by  the  branches  in  raising  their  gold  reserve 
to  a  very  high  point.  When  I  resigned  the  presidency  of  the 
bank  in  April,  1S63,  it  held  $3,300,000  in  gold  on  a  capital 
of  $3,000,000.  As  the  premium  on  gold  soon  after  rapidly 
advanced  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  say  that  the  profits  of 
the  branches  from  this  source  were  quite  satisfactory  to  their 
stockholders. 

Upon  the  passage  of  the  act  of  Congress  by  which  notes 
of  all  banks  except  those  of  the  national  banks  were  subjected 
to  a  ten  per  cent,  tax,  the  Bank  of  the  State  went  into  liqui 
dation.  Its  career  was  short,  but  fortunate.  It  fully  main 
tained  the  credit  of  its  predecessor.  If  it  was  conceived  in  sin, 
as  was  charged  by  Governor  Wright,  who  vetoed  the  bill  creat 
ing  it,  it  brought  forth  in  a  large  measure  the  fruits  of  a  well- 
conducted  business. 

In  closing  what  I  have  to  say  about  banking  in  Indiana, 
I  cannot  forbear  to  refer  to  the  action  of  the  New  Orleans 
banks  towards  their  Northern  correspondents  at  the  outbreak 


LOUISIANA    CREDIT.  139 

of  the  civil  war.  The  Southern  branches  had  large  dealings 
with  men  who  were  engaged  in  the  Southern  (Mississippi)  trade, 
and  when  measures  were  being  instituted  for  the  secession  of 
Louisiana  from  the  Union,  and,  indeed,  after  the  ordinance 
of  secession  had  been  adopted,  these  branches  had  large  cash 
balances  and  large  amounts  of  commercial  paper  in  the  New 
Orleans  banks.  Against  the  remonstrances  of  the  secession 
leaders,  and  in  disregard  of  threatened  violence,  these  cash  bal 
ances  and  the  proceeds  of  the  commercial  paper  as  it  matured 
were  remitted  for  according  to  directions — not  a  dollar  was 
withheld.  No  more  able  and  honorably  conducted  banks 
existed  in  the  Union  than  were  those  in  New  Orleans  before 
the  war,  nor  was  mercantile  honor  anywhere  of  a  higher  tone 
than  in  that  city.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  demoralization 
during  the  war,  and  much  more  for  eight  or  ten  years  after 
the  war  terminated,  but  the  good  seed  that  had  been  sown 
there  during  the  period  of  her  great  prosperity  and  commer 
cial  supremacy  in  the  West  had  taken  too  deep  root  to  be 
lost.  Few  advocates  of  repudiation  have  been  found  among 
her  bankers  and  merchants  and  large  tax-payers.  If  they 
could  have  controlled  the  legislation  of  the  State,  her  honor 
would  not  have  been  impaired.  Railroads  have  deprived  New 
Orleans  of  the  monopoly  of  AVestern  traffic,  and  she  has  been 
outstripped  in  population  and  business  by  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago,  but  she  is  rapidly  regaining  her  credit,  and  as 
long  as  the  Mississippi  bears  upon  its  waters  a  considerable 
part  of  the  productions  of  the  immense  region  which  it  drains, 
she  will  be  a  great  and  prosperous  city.  Not  only  was  the 
spirit  of  her  citizens  displayed  in  her  recent  exposition,  but  the 
productive  power  of  the  country  which  is  naturally  tributary 
to  her  was  there  so  exhibited  as  to  establish  confidence  in  her 
future  and  continued  growth.  No  Western  man  who  knew 
New  Orleans  when  she  was  the  great  city  of  the  West,  the 
only  accessible  market  for  the  productions  of  an  immense 
region,  can  fail  to  be  interested  in  her  welfare. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher — He  becomes  the  Pastor  of  a  New-School  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Indianapolis — The  Character  of  his  Sermons — Manner  of  Pre 
paring  Them — Touching  Address  at  Fort  Wayne — His  Power  as  a  Speaker 
— His  Speeches  at  Liverpool  and  London — At  the  Height  of  his  Career 
in  1863 — His  Influence  as  a  Preacher,  and  his  Personal  Character — His 
Encounter  with  a  Constable  at  Indianapolis — His  Employment  Outside 
of  the  Pulpit — Not  a  Partisan — Dr.  Lyman  Beecher — His  Ride  to  Fort 
Wayne — His  Pleasant  Manners. 

ONE  of  the  earliest,  and  in  many  respects  the  pleasantest,  of 
the  acquaintances  which  I  formed  in  Indiana,  was  that 
of  Henry  "Ward  Beecher,  who  in  1839,  on  the  invitation  of 
Samuel  Merrill,  president  of  the  State  Bank,  and  a  few  other 
prominent  citizens  of  Indianapolis,  left  Lawrenceburg,  where 
he  had  been  preaching  for  two  or  three  years,  to  become  the 
first  pastor  of  a  New-School  Presbyterian  Church  at  the  capital 
of  the  State.  There  was  not  more  than  a  dozen  members 
when  he  took  charge  of  it,  but  it  grew  rapidly  in  membership 
until  1847,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  Brooklyn.  It  had  then 
become  numerically  one  of  the  largest  in  the  city,  but  its  increase 
was  not  to  any  considerable  extent  at  the  expense  of  the  other 
churches.  The  congregation  was  largely  made  up  of  men  and 
women  who  were  not  and  had  not  been  members  of  any 
church,  who  were  attracted  by  the  novelty  and  earnestness  of 
Mr.  Beecher's  preaching.  His  sermons,  both  in  style  and  topics, 
were  quite  different  from  those  which  had  been  heard  from 
Presbyterian  pulpits.  They  were  in  some  respects  like  those 
of  the  presiding  elders  of  the  Methodist  Church,  but  broader, 
less  doctrinal,  and  much  more  varied  in  subjects.  It  was 
religion,  not  theology,  that  was  preached  by  Mr.  Beecher. 
Christianity  was,  in  his  estimation,  the  moral  purifier  of  the 


HENRY   WARD    BEECIIER.  141 

world.  Adapted  to  all  conditions  of  mankind,  it  was  the 
only  foundation  upon  which  social  order  and  free  Government 
could  safely  rest.  The  religion  of  which  he  was  the  advocate 
was  not  a  system  of  doctrines,  belief  in  which  was  necessary 
for  either  present  or  future  happiness ;  but  a  system  of  which 
love  was  the  corner-stone,  and  active  benevolence,  unselfish 
efforts  for  the  well-being  of  others,  and  personal  purity  were 
the  legitimate  results.  In  copiousness  of  language  and  faculty 
of  illustration  he  excelled  all  men  whom  I  have  heard.  He 
was  one  of  the  very  few  preachers  who  could  be  followed 
and  understood  by  everybody.  He  was  never  above  the  level 
of  ordinary  comprehension,  and  he  rarely  offended  the  most 
highly  cultivated  taste  by  language  of  a  low  order. 

Except  for  extraordinary  occasions  Mr.  Beecher's  sermons 
were  not  elaborately  prepared.  They  were  rather  the  outcome 
of  observation  in  his  walks  and  in  his  intercourse  with  the  peo 
ple  than  of  his  study  of  books.  They  were  premeditated,  but 
his  notes  were  not  written  until  within  a  few  hours  before  the 
sermons  were  delivered.  These  notes  consisted  of  as  many  sen 
tences  as  there  were  subjects  to  be  dealt  with  ;  a  single  sentence 
on  each  subject.  They  were  thus  prepared,  he  said,  in  order 
that  he  "  might  be  fairly  started,  kept  on  the  right  track,  and 
not  be  led  off  on  a  false  scent."  His  sermons,  I  have  said, 
were  premeditated  ;  but  for  some  of  them,  and  for  some  of  his 
addresses,  there  was  little  or  no  opportunity  for  premeditation. 
These  were,  however,  among  the  most  effective  that  he  deliv 
ered.  I  recollect  one  especially.  He  had  come  from  Indianap 
olis  to  Fort  Wayne,  where  I  was  living,  to  assist  his  father  (who 
had  come  from  Cincinnati)  in  the  organization  of  a  church  of 
which  his  brother  Charles  was  to  be  the  pastor.  He  reached 
Fort  Wayne  late  in  the  afternoon  after  a  hard  day's  ride  on 
horseback,  and  immediately  after  his  arrival  he  was  hurried  off 
to  meet  some  ten  or  fifteen  men  and  women  who  were  to  become 
members  of  the  new  church,  and  a  number  of  citizens  besides, 
who  felt  an  interest  in  this  religious  enterprise.  The  meeting 


142  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

was  in  a  private  house,  and  the  room  was  well  filled,  as  it  was 
expected  that  Mr.  Beecher  would  be  present,  and  if  present,  that 
he  would  speak.  He  did  not  disappoint  them.  After  some  busi 
ness  connected  with  the  organization  services  had  been  trans 
acted,  Mr.  Beecher  arose,  read  a  few  passages  from  the  Xew 
Testament,  and  made  an  address  in  language  so  beautiful  and 
appropriate,  in  a  voice  so  tender  and  affectionate,  that  all  pres 
ent  were  spellbound,  and  when  he  closed  there  was  not  a  dry 
eye  except  his  own  in  the  room. 

One  day  Mr.  Beecher  was  called  upon  unexpectedly  to 
attend,  at  the  wretched  place  where  he  died,  the  funeral  of  a 
man  who  had  long  been  a  drunkard.  The  deceased  had  no 
family,  but  he  had  a  large  number  of  friends,  who  had  assem 
bled  to  show  their  regard  for  him.  Blear-eyed,  hard-faced 
men  were  nearly  all  of  them,  such  men  as  Mr.  Beecher  had 
never  seen  together  ;  such  as  only  a  man  like  Mr.  Beecher 
could  reach  ;  but  wretched  and  degraded  as  they  had  become, 
there  was  something  of  their  better  nature  still  left,  and  this 
was  open  to  the  warnings  and  the  appeals  of  the  speaker. 
They  had  never  been  spoken  to  as  he  spoke  to  them  ;  not  as 
outcasts,  but  as  men.  They  felt  the  justice  of  his  rebukes, 
their  hearts  responded  to  his  affectionate  entreaties.  All 
wept  like  children  ;  two  became  temperate  men.  "  I  never 
felt,"  said  Mr.  Beecher,  some  time  after,  "  I  never  felt  God's 
helping  hand  as  I  did  when  I  addressed  a  score  of  drunkards 
at  a  drunkard's  funeral." 

Mr.  Beecher  was  one  of  the  rare  speakers  who  carry  their 
audiences  along  with  them  irresistibly.  Such  was  his  ardor, 
his  earnestness,  his  unquestionable  sincerity,  his  copiousness  of 
language,  his  personal  magnetism,  that  his  listeners  were  too 
much  under  his  control  to  be  critical.  He  loved  his  pulpit, 
and  was  always  at  home  there ;  but  he  seemed  to  be  equally 
at  home  upon  the  platform,  where  some  of  his  most  powerful 
addresses  were  delivered.  As  a  platform  orator  he  had  no 
equal  except  Wendell  Phillips.  His  language  was  less  classic 


HIS   INFLUENCE   FOR   LIBERALISM.  143 

than  that  of  Phillips,  and  his  style  was  less  perfect,  but  he  had 
more  endurance  and  vitality,  and  his  devotion  to  the  cause 
which  he  advocated  never  made  him  unjust  to  those  from  whom 
he  differed.  His  grandest  addresses  were  delivered  during  the 
civil  war,  when  his  intellectual  and  physical  powers  were  at 
their  highest  level.  In  those  which  he  delivered  in  Liverpool 
and  London  in  1863,  he  had  opportunities  for  the  display  to 
the  fullest  extent  of  his  wit,  his  aptness  in  repartee,  his  tact, 
his  perfect  self-control,  his  physical  endurance,  and  his  over 
mastering  power  as  a  speaker  ;  and  these  opportunities  were 
so  improved  by  him  as  to  check  the  current  of  English  sympa 
thy  which  had  been  flowing  towards  those  who  were  in  arms 
against  their  government,  and  to  make  him  an  idol  to  his  loyal 
countrymen.  "When  he  returned  to  the  tTnited  States  in  the 
autumn  of  1863,  he  Avas  at  the  height  of  his  career.  He  was 
then  more  loved  and  honored  than  any  man  of  his  day.  His 
sky  was  then  cloudless.  It  did  not  continue  so,  but  those  who 
knew  him  best  never  lost  faith  in  him,  or  doubted  the  purity 
of  his  character.  The  manner  in  which  the  report  of  his  death 
was  received  throughout  the  country  showed  how  strong  was 
his  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  Mr.  Beecher  was 
not  only  the  most  popular,  but  the  most  influential  preacher 
that  this  country  has  produced.  He  did  more  than  any  other 
man  to  liberalize  religious  sentiment,  to  lift  orthodox  theology 
out  of  the  ruts  in  which  it  had  been  running  from  the  days  of 
the  Puritans.  His  sermons  were  very  rarehr  doctrinal.  He 
was  in  no  respect  a  theologian.  He  cared  little  for  creeds. 
P>elief  with  him  was  a  matter  of  secondary  importance ;  con 
duct  was  everything.  He  had  a  decided  taste  for  horticulture, 
and  one  of  his  most  intimate  acquaintances  was  a  man  (Aldrich, 
I  think  his  name  was,)  who  had  a  fine  nursery  and  garden  near 
Indianapolis.  "  I  like  him,"  said  Mr.  Beecher  to  me  one  day, 
"  I  like  him  because  he  loves  flowers  as  I  do,  and  I  have  a  great 
admiration  of  him  because  he  is  one  of  the  honestest  men  that 
I  have  ever  met.  I  have  made  him  a  study.  He  is  always 


144     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

what  he  appears  to  be — a  perfectly  upright  man.  Nothing 
would  induce  him  to  swerve  from  the  truth,  and  yet  he  is  an 
infidel,  a  disbeliever  in  the  Bible  and  a  future  life.  I  wish  that 
I  and  my  church  members  were  more  like  him." 

I  was  very  intimate  with  Mr.  Beecher  as  long  as  he  lived 
in  Indianapolis.  His  brother  Charles  was  the  pastor  of  the 
New-School  church  at  Fort  Wayne,  of  which  my  wife  was  a 
member.  He  was  frequently  at  my  house.  I  once  travelled 
with  him  on  horseback  from  Fort  "Wayne  to  Indianapolis,  when 
it  took  full  three  days  to  make  the  trip ;  stopped  wTith  him  at 
the  same  taverns,  and  slept  in  the  same  rooms  with  him.  To 
me  he  was  an  open  book.  If  there  had  been  anything  wrong 
about  him,  I  should  have  discovered  it.  He  was  incapable  of 
disguise,  and  I  never  heard  a  sentiment  from  him  that  the 
strictest  moralist  could  object  to.  His  vitality  was  immense, 
his  jollity  at  times  irrepressible.  He  was  physically  very 
strong.  His  health  was  perfect,  his  buoyancy  of  spirits  unflag 
ging.  I  recollect  how  he  sang  and  shouted  as  we  rode  through 
the  wroods  together,  how  admirably  he  mimicked  preachers 
who  seemed  to  think  that  sanctimonious  countenances  and 
whining  tones  were  the  indications  of  zealous  faith.  To  Mr. 
Beecher,  religion  was  joyousness,  Christianity  the  agency  by 
which  men  were  to  be  made  not  only  better  but  happier. 
"  Some  people,"  said  he,  "  think  that  I  am  not  solemn  enough 
in  the  pulpit,  nor  staid  or  reverent  enough  out  of  it.  I  won 
der  what  they  would  think  if  I  should  act  just  as  I  feel." 

Mr.  Beecher  gave  proof  of  his  pluck  in  his  encounters  with 
secessionists  and  sympathizers  with  the  South  in  Liverpool  and 
London.  It  was  sometimes  tested  in  a  different  way.  The 
people  of  Indiana  before  the  war,  if  not  pro-slaver}r  in  senti 
ment,  were,  with  few  exceptions,  opposed  to  all  anti-slavery 
movements,  and  the  negroes  who  came  to  the  State  were  fre 
quently  the  subjects  of  barbarous  treatment.  One  day  there 
was  what  was  called  a  negro  riot  in  Indianapolis,  in  which 
some  inoffensive  colored  people  were  driven  from  their  homes 


BEECHER'S  PLUCK.  145 

and  treated  with  savage  inhumanity.  A  leader  of  the  rioters, 
whose  behavior  towards  these  people  was  especially  infamous, 
was  a  constable.  Mr.  Beecher,  upon  being  informed  of  his 
conduct,  denounced  it  in  his  usual  emphatic  manner.  This 
came  to  the  ears  of  the  constable,  who  expressed  his  determi 
nation  to  hold  Mr.  Beecher  responsible.  "•  Beecher  must  take 
back  what  he  has  said  about  me,  or  I'll  lick  him  within  an 
inch  of  his  life."  The  next  day  as  Mr.  Beecher  was  walking 
leisurely  by  the  constable's  office,  the  constable  opened  the 
door  and  asked  Mr.  Beecher  to  step  in.  The  office  was  near 
the  principal  hotel  of  the  city,  and  some  young  men  who  had 
heard  of  the  constable's  threats,  and  happened  to  be  standing 
upon  the  sidewalk,  gathered  around  the  door  to  see,  as  they 
said,  the  fun.  The  constable  was  a  big,  brawny  fellow,  and  as 
Mr.  Beecher  entered  he  advanced  to  meet  him,  and  said  in  a 
rough  voice,  "  I  understand,  Mr.  Beecher,  that  you  have  said 
so  and  so  about  me,"  repeating  the  offensive  language.  "  Did 
you  say  that,  sir?  "  "  I  don't  think  I  said  exactly  that,  but  it 
was  about  what  I  meant  to  say,"  replied  Mr.  Beecher,  as  he 

looked  the  constable  steadily  in  the  face.     "  You're  a  d d 

liar,  sir,  and  if  you  were  not  a  preacher  I  would  lick  you  like 
a  dog,"  said  the  constable.  "  Dismiss  all  considerations  of 
that  kind  ;  I  ask  no  favor  on  that  score,"  responded  Mr. 
Beecher.  The  constable  looked  at  the  stoutly-built,  sturdy 
man  who  stood  before  him  without  flinching,  and  concluded 
that  it  was  safer  to  threaten  than  to  strike.  Mr.  Beecher  lis 
tened  for  a  moment  to  the  constable's  oaths,  then  left  the 
office,  saying  as  he  went  out,  "  Good-bye,  Mr.  Constable,  you 
will  feel  better  when  you  cool  off."  The  bystanders  clapped 
their  hands  as  Mr.  Beecher  stepped  upon  the  sidewalk,  and  it 
was  a  long  time  before  the  constable  heard  the  last  of  his 
interview  with  Mr.  Beecher.  ';  What  would  you  have  done," 
I  asked  Mr.  Beecher,  "  if  the  constable  had  attempted  to  make 
good  his  threats  ? "  "I  should  have  warded  off  his  blows  and 
laid  him  upon  his  back  in  no  time.  I  knew  if  I  was  not 
10 


146  ME1ST   AND   MEASURES    OF  HALF   A    CENTURY. 

stronger  that  I  was  quicker  and  a  better  wrestler  than  he  was, 
and  I  was  sure  that  he  could  not  have  stood  before  me  for  an 
instant.  I  should  have  been  sorry  to  have  had  a  contest  with 
such  a  fellow,  but  I  could  not  stand  and  be  whipped,"  was  Mr. 
Beecher's  reply. 

Few  of  Mr.  Beecher's  hearers  could  understand  how  he 
acquired  knowledge  without  study.  It  was  understood  that 
he  had  not  been  a  hard  student  at  Amherst  College,  nor  at  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Cincinnati.  In  Indianapolis  he  had 
nothing  that  could  be  called  a  library.  He  seemed  to  care 
very  little  for  books,  and  he  had  no  time  to  give  to  them.  He 
sawed  his  wood,  milked  and  took  care  of  his  cow,  groomed 
and  fed  his  horse,  and  with  his  o\vn  hands  made  the  best  and 
largest  garden  in  the  city.  At  the  same  time  he  prepared  and 
delivered  a  course  of  lectures  to  young  men,  and  made  many 
addresses  at  various  places.  He  was  the  sole  editor  of  a  hor 
ticultural  weekly  paper,  and  was  always  ready  to  lend  a  help 
ing  hand  to  his  neighbors  in  the  improvement  of  their  yards 
and  lawns.  The  taste  for  landscape  gardening,  for  which  the 
householders  of  Indianapolis  were  afterwards  distinguished, 
was  the  outcome  of  Mr.  Beecher's  work  and  teaching.  Not 
withstanding  all  this,  he  rarely  failed  to  preach  three  sermons 
a  week,  which  were  not  only  beautiful  in  language  and  strik 
ing  in  thought,  but  apparentl\r  the  result  of  careful  study  ;  and 
so  they  were — not  of  books,  but  of  men  and  things  and  of  his 
extraordinary  power  of  observation.  If  a  stranger  had  noticed 
him  upon  the  streets  or  in  the  country,  he  would  have  thought 
from  his  impassive  face  that  he  was  woolgathering,  while  he 
was  noticing  everything  about  him,  learning  as  he  went.  If 
he  spent  a  day  or  two  in  a  town  which  he  had  never  before 
visited,  he  would  know  more  about  it,  its  people  and  its  busi 
ness,  than  those  who  had  been  there  for  years.  His  mind  was 
constantly  at  work,  and  its  grasp  was  quick  and  clear.  He 
read  newspapers  to  know  what  was  going  on,  but  he  did  not 
give  much  time  to  them.  Men,  their  characters  and  their 


HIS   INDEPENDENCE.  147 

occupations,  were  his  study.  His  thoughts  and  observations 
included  everything  in  which  his  people  were  or  ought  to  be 
interested,  and  consequently  his  sermons  embraced  a  great 
variety  of  subjects.  Nothing  which  affected  their  welfare 
socially  or  politically  was,  in  his  judgment,  out  of  place  in  ser 
mons.  Worldly  topics,  which  most  clergymen  considered 
improper  to  be  discussed  in  the  pulpit,  were  just  those  which 
Mr.  Beecher  loved  to  discuss,  and  in  discussing  them  he  gave 
full  play  to  his  humor  and  wit,  which  were  only  less  effective 
than  his  pathos. 

Mr.  Beecher  was  an  independent  thinker,  and  although  he 
never  doubted  the  correctness  of  his  own  conclusions,  he  was 
free  from  uncharitableness  and  intolerance.  While  he  was  at 
Indianapolis  the  theological  war  between  the  Old  and  New 
School  churches  was  carried  on  with  great  acrimony.  In  the 
opinion  of  the  Old  School  people,  the  believers  in  the  New 
School  doctrines  were  heretics,  and  Mr.  Beecher,  as  one  of  the 
most  prominent  of  the  New  School  leaders,  was  the  subject  of 
unparalleled  abuse ;  but  he  never  indulged  in  retaliation.  I 
never  heard  from  him  a  word  that  savored  of  unkind  ness 
towards  those  whom  he  knew  to  be  his  assailants.  He  was  also 
free  from  egotism.  He  must  have  been  conscious  of  his  great 
powers.  He  was  building  up  a  church  with  great  rapidity  ;  he 
perceived  that  he  was  listened  to  with  attention  by  some  of 
the  most  intellectual  men  in  the  State ;  he  had  good  reason  to 
believe  that  his  sermons  were  making  deep  impressions  upon 
minds  that  had  never  before  been  interested  in  religious  sub 
jects  ;  he  knew  that  he  wTas  regarded,  young  as  he  was,  as 
being  one  of  the  most  effective  preachers  in  the  West ;  but  he 
never  seemed  to  be  elated.  I  heard  him  speak  but  twice  of 
himself  as  a  speaker ;  once  when  he  referred  to  the  effect  of 
his  remarks  at  the  drunkard's  funeral,  and  once  when  he  spoke 
of  the  first  sermon  that  he  preached  in  his  father's  presence. 
"  I  was,"  he  said,  referring  to  this  sermon,  "  embarrassed  at 
the  start,  but  I  soon  got  over  that,  and  perceiving  that  I  was 


148  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

commanding  the  attention  of  the  audience,  I  warmed  up  with 
my  subject,  and  you  can  judge  how  happy  I  was  when,  looking 
around,  I  saw  that  my  father,  who  sat  behind  me,  was  in  tears. 
It  was  one  of  my  first  sermons,  and  1  had  made  my  father 
cry." 

Mr.  Beecher  wrote  a  great  deal,  and  usually  with  great 
ability  ;  but  it  is  upon  his  talents  and  accomplishments  as  a 
preacher  that  his  fame  will  most  securely  rest.  Few  of  his 
sermons  were  what  might  be  called  finished  productions,  but 
they  abounded  in  eloquent  passages,  in  striking  illustrations,  in 
original  ideas.  They  were  instructive  as  well  as  captivating. 
No  man  has  ever  been  heard  by  so  many  people,  no  man  of 
the  present  century  has  expressed  so  many  loving  thoughts,  or 
touched  so  many  hearts,  or  influenced  so  many  lives,  or  done  so 
much  to  soften  theological  austerities,  and  liberalize  religious 
sentiment,  as  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

When  I  went  to  the  West  in  1833,  I  had,  besides  those  I 
have  named,  letters  of  introduction  to  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher, 
Henry  AVard's  father.  He  was  then  engaged  in  ministerial 
work  as  the  pastor  of  a  New  School  church  in  Cincinnati,  and 
in  the  establishment  of  a  theological  school  (Lane  Seminary) 
in  that  vicinity.  My  interview  with  him  was  short,  and  I  did 
not  meet  him  again  until  he  went  to  Fort  Wayne,  in  1844,  to 
assist  in  the  ordination  of  his  son  Charles.  He  left  Cincinnati 
Thursday  in  a  canal  boat,  expecting  to  reach  Fort  Wayne  on 
the  following  Saturday,  but  he  made  slower  progress  than  he 
had  anticipated,  and  before  half  his  journey  had  been  com 
pleted  he  discovered  that  by  the  canal  he  could  not  reach  Fort 
Wayne  in  season  to  be  present  at  his  son's  ordination.  He 
therefore  determined  to  leave  the  canal  boat  at  St.  Mary's  and 
complete  his  journey  (a  distance  of  sixty  miles)  on  horseback, 
which  he  did.  He  left  St.  Mary's  Friday  evening  just  as  the 
sun  was  going  down  ;  rode  all  night,  and  reached  my  house, 
at  Fort  Wayne,  the  next  afternoon.  He  was  covered  from 
foot  to  head  with  mud,  but  was  far  from  being  exhausted  by 


LYMAN   BEECHER.  149 

his  long  and  tiresome  ride.  Immediately  after  his  arrival  he 
asked  if  he  could  have  some  whiskey  to  "  rub  himself  down 
with,"  as  he  said.  The  whiskey  was  sent  to  his  room,  and 
soon  after  he  joined  the  family,  apparently  as  fresh  as  if  he  had 
been  resting  for  hours.  Dr.  Beecher  was  then  about  seventy 
years  old,  and  was  quite  unaccustomed  to  the  saddle,  and  yet 
so  strong  and  hardy  was  he  that  he  rode  all  night  and  a  good 
part  of  the  next  day  over  one  of  the  worst  roads  in  the 
West  without  exhibiting  weariness.  To  my  inquiry  how  he 
got  on  during  the  night  he  replied  :  "  Comfortably  enough, 
but  I  should  not  if  my  horse  had  not  known  more  about 
roads  than  I  did.  I  clung  to  the  saddle,  gave  him  the  rein, 
and  he  brought  me  through  all  right." 

I  had  known  Dr.  Beecher  before  I  left  New  England  as  one 
of  the  vigorous  assailants  of  Unitarianism,  and  I  had  expected 
to  find  him  uncongenial  if  not  austere ;  but  he  proved  to  be 
one  of  the  most  social  and  agreeable  of  men.  He  spent  a  num 
ber  of  days  at  my  house,  and  I  became  strongly  attached  to 
him.  I  had  known  him  in  the  pulpit  as  an  earnest,  intolerant, 
and  always  logical  preacher.  It  did  not  take  me  long  to 
discover  that  out  of  it  he  abounded  in  sympathy,  in  genial 
ity,  in  good-will  for  everybody.  He  seemed  to  be  happy 
in  throwing  off  restraint  and  indulging  his  natural  taste. 
Fort  Wayne  was  then  a  small  town,  and  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  but  near  my  house,  was  the  forest,  the  sight  of 
which  revived  the  habit  which  had  been  formed  in  his  early 
life.  u  I  must  have  a  run  through  the  woods,"  he  said  to  me 
one  morning,  "  and  if  there  is  any  game  there,  and  you  will  let 
me  have  a  gun  and  plenty  of  powder  and  shot,  I  will  see  what 
I  can  do  as  a  sportsman."  The  gun  and  ammunition  were 
ready.  He  started  for  the  woods  by  himself,  and  before  noon 
he  returned  with  a  rabbit  and  a  pigeon,  as  much  delighted  with 
his  achievement  as  a  boy  usually  with  his  first  success  in  hunt 
ing.  The  rabbit  was  cooked  according  to  his  directions,  and 
he  seemed  overjoyed  by  his  contribution  to  the  family  dinner. 


ME1ST    AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF    A    CENTURY. 

Dr.  Beecher  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  father  of  more 
brains  than  any  other  man  in  the  country.  As  far  as  I  know 
he  merited  the  reputation.  His  six  sons  and  four  daughters 
were  very  unlike  in  talents  and  in  their  leading  characteristics  ; 
but  there  was  not  an  ordinary  one  among  them. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Election  a  Pretext  for  Secession — South  Carolina  and  Nullifica 
tion — Mr.  Buchanan's  Conservatism — Slavery — Northern  and  Southern 
Views  of  the  Constitution — Expectation  of  Secessionists  in  Regard  to 
Action  of  Border  States — Opposition  to  Coercion  in  Some  of  the  Free 
States — Dark  Days  between  November,  1860,  and  April,  1861 — Slavery  the 
Question  which  Statesmen  were  Unable  to  Handle — Defeat  at  Bull  Run 
Unexpected — Demoralization  at  Washington  after  the  Battle — Subse 
quent  Defeats  Created  no  Dismay — Platform  upon  which  McClellan  was 
Nominated  for  the  Presidency — Mr.  Lincoln's  Remarks  Upon  It. 

THE  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  only  the  proximate  cause 
of  the  attempted  secession  of  the  Southern  States  from 
the  Union.  If  Mr.  Douglas  or  Mr.  Breckenridge  had  been 
elected,  the  decision  of  the  question  of  the  right  of  a  State  to 
withdraw  its  allegiance  from  the  Federal  Government  would 
have  been  merely  postponed.  There  had  been,  from,  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution,  a  difference  of  opinion  between  the 
leading  men  of  the  Northern  and  those  of  the  Southern  States 

O 

upon  this  important  and  fundamental  question.  It  was  one 
that  could  be  settled  neither  by  Congress  nor  the  Supreme 
Court.  It  was  practically  an  open  question,  and  the  leading 
statesmen  of  the  South  were  quite  willing  that  it  should  remain 
so  until  a  certain  crisis  should  arise  which  would  consolidate 
the  Southern  States,  and  justify  the  exercise  of  their  sover 
eignty  in  withdrawing  from  the  Union  and  establishing  an 
independent  Government.  South  Carolina  had  placed  her 
sovereignty  in  opposition  to  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  by  attempting  to  nullify  an  act  of  Congress  creating 
higher  tariff  than  was  needed  for  revenue.  The  tariff  question, 
however,  was  a  question  upon  which  there  was  a  lack  of  una 
nimity  among  the  Southern  people,  and  the  other  Southern 


152  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTUKY. 

States  did  not  sympathize  with  South  Carolina  in  the  stand 
which  she  took.  Nullification  was  stamped  out  by  President 
Jackson's  celebrated  proclamation,  and  his  well-known  deter 
mination  to  execute  the  law,  no  matter  how  strong  the  opposi 
tion  might  be  to  it.  Whether  the  secession  movement  would 
have  been  crushed  before  it  had  made  such  headway  if  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  or  a  man  of  equally  fiery  temperament  and  un 
conquerable  will,  had  been  President,  is  at  least  questionable. 
General  Jackson,  although  the  idol  of  the  Democratic  Party, 
and  for  many  years  its  leader,  was  not,  upon  the  question  of 
State  rights,  a  Democrat.  The  proclamation  to  which  I  have 
referred  was  a  clear  and  vigorous  presentation  of  old-time 
Federalism.  Mr.  Buchanan,  who  commenced  his  public  life  as 
a  Federalist,  and  who  said  in  one  of  his  early  speeches  that  if 
there  were  a  drop  of  Democratic  blood  in  his  veins  he  would 
let  it  out,  became  in  his  mature  years  a  Democrat  of  the  deep 
est  dye — a  strict  constructionist  of  the  Constitution — a  sturdy 
advocate  of  the  doctrine  that  all  powers  not  absolutely  granted 
to  Congress  were  reserved  by  the  States.  The  characters  of 
the  two  men  were  as  different  as  were  their  opinions  in  regard 
to  the  authority  of  the  Government  and  the  rights  of  the 
States.  Jackson  was  quick  in  deciding  and  prompt  in  action, 
more  apt  to  exceed  his  authority  than  to  fall  short  of  its  exer 
cise.  He  never  shrank  from  the  performance  of  what  he  con 
sidered  his  duty  to  the  people,  even  if  the  legality  of  his  actions 
might  be  questionable.  He  was  brave,  patriotic  and  honest, 
but  arbitrary  and  aggressive.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  equally 
honest  and  patriotic,  but  he  gave  to  the  Constitution  very 
strict  construction,  and  he  seemed  to  be  more  careful  to  avoid 
infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  States  than  to  maintain  the 
rightful  authority  of  the  Government.  He  was  better  fitted 
for  the  Senate  than  the  Presidency — better  fitted  to  make  laws 
than  to  execute  them.  Nevertheless  he  would  have  made  a 
good  President  in  ordinary  times.  He  was  learned,  courteous, 
of  spotless  integrity,  and  in  all  respects  a  gentleman.  Indeed, 


BUCHANAN   AND    SECESSION.  153 

until  near  its  close,  his  administration  was  creditable  to  himself 
and  satisfactory  to  the  country  ;  but  he  lacked  the  nerve,  the 
decision,  the  self-reliance,  which  were  needed  when  he  was 
called  upon  to  meet  so  portentous  a  matter  as  the  threatened 
disruption  of  the  Union.  He  hesitated  to  act,  when  hesitation 
was  perilous  to  the  peace  of  the  country.  He  discussed  with 
his  cabinet — every  member  of  which,  except  General  Cass.  was 
in  sympathy  with  the  South,  if  not  with  the  secessionists — the 
questions  of  State  rights  and  of  the  authority  of  the  Govern 
ment  to  enforce  its  laws  by  military  power,  while  South  Caro 
lina  was  instituting  measures  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  and 
taking  possession  of  all  the  property  of  the  United  States  which 
was  within  her  reach.  Still,  as  I  have  said,  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  secession  would  have  been  crushed  in  its  incipient 
stages  if  a  more  resolute  man  than  Mr.  Buchanan  had  been  in 
his  place.  The  slavery  question  was  a  far  different  question 
from  that  of  a  tariff.  It  was  one  on  which  there  was  very 
little  difference  of  opinion  among  the  leading  men  of  the  South. 
There  were,  it  is  true,  a  few  Southern  men  who  were  opposed 
to  slavery,  but  they  generally  kept  their  opinions  to  themselves. 
Indeed,  for  some  years  before  the  war  no  one  could  safely  utter 
anti-slavery  sentiments  in  the  Southern  States :  to  be  suspected 
of  entertaining  them  was  sufficient  to  consign  a  man  to  social 
ostracism,  if  it  did  not  expose  him  to  personal  violence.  It 
was  the  one  subject  upon  which  there  could  be  no  discussion 
in  the  slave  States.  It  was  the  apprehension  of  slave-owners 
that  their  property  might  not  be  sufficiently  protected  under 
the  Constitution,  that  made  them  converts  to  and  advocates  of 
the  doctrine  that  the  Union  was  a  federal  Union,  or  compact 
of  States,  from  which  any  State  might  peaceably  withdraw- 
that  the  allegiance  of  a  citizen  of  a  State  was  primarily  due  to 
the  State,  not  to  the  United  States  ;  a  doctrine  which  had  been 
taught  in  Southern  schools  and  colleges,  and  even  churches, 
until  the  entire  South  had  been  so  permeated  by  it  that  upon 
this  point  the  Southern  States  wrere  substantially  a  unit. 


154  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  almost  universal  sentiment  of  the 
North,  was,  that  the  United  States  was  a  nation ;  that  the 
Constitution  had  been  adopted  for  the  very  purpose  of  creating 
a  nationality  which  should  be  independent  of  the  States  in  its 
action,  and  absolute  in  its  rightful  authority  ;  that  all  acts  of 
Congress  were  to  be  obeyed  until  they  had  been  declared  to  be 
unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court ;  that  the  Union  could 
only  be  dismembered  by  a  successful  revolution.  Such  was 
the  conflict  of  opinion  between  the  sections,  a  conflict  which 
was  terminated  and  could  only  be  terminated  by  the  sword. 
That  the  leaders  in  secession  had  contemplated  war  as  a  possi 
ble  if  not  probable  result  of  their  attempt  to  divide  the  Union, 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt.  They  did  not,  however,  anticipate 
a  general  uprising  of  the  people  of  the  Middle  and  Western 
States  in  defence  of  the  Union.  They  confidently  expected 
that  Missouri,  Kentucky  and  Maryland  would  unite  with  the 
other  States  in  which  slavery  existed,  and  that  Illinois,  Indiana 
and  Ohio  would  give  reluctant  and  but  partial  aid  to  the  Fed 
eral  Government  if  coercive  measures  should  be  resorted  to  for 
its  support.  For  these  expectations  there  were  apparently 
good  reasons.  The  most  prominent  men  in  Missouri,  Kentucky 
and  Maryland,  if  not  disunionists,  were  more  attached  to 
slavery  than  to  the  Union,  while  their  people  generally  were 
bound  to  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  by  family  or  com 
mercial  ties.  What  might  be  called  the  civilization  of  these 
central  States  was  widely  different  from  that  of  the  Northern 
States,  and  they  would  undoubtedly  have  joined  the  South  if 
they  had  not  been  prevented  by  the  prompt  and  energetic 
measures  of  the  Government.  The  disposition  of  the  people  of 
Maryland  was  indicated  by  the  treatment  which  a  Massachu 
setts  regiment  received  as  it  passed  through  Baltimore,  and  the 
war  was  nearly  ended  before  the  presence  of  Union  troops  was 
regarded  with  as  much  favor  in  Maryland  as  was  the  presence  of 
the  Confederates.  At  the  commencement  of  the  war,  Missouri 
was  in  open  revolt,  and  desperate  battles  were  fought  upon  her 


THE   DOUBTFUL   BOEDER   STATES.  155 

soil  before  she  could  be  prevented  from  casting-  her  lot  with  the 
South.  The  same  influences  which  were  at  work  in  Missouri 
and  Maryland  were  potent  also  in  Kentucky.  I  happened  to 
be  in  Louisville,  which  in  early  days  was  called  the  Yankee 
city  of  the  West,  from  the  number  of  New  England  men  who 
were  in  business  there,  when  South  Carolina  adopted  the  ordi 
nance  of  secession,  and  my  conclusion  was  that  the  action  of 
Kentucky  in  this  regard  would  depend  upon  that  of  the  other 
slave-holding  States.  I  had  conversations  with  many  Louisville 
merchants  and  bankers,  who  were  much  troubled  by  the  pro 
ceedings  of  South  Carolina.  They  expressed  deep  regret  at 
what  they  called  her  rashness  and  folly,  and  they  evidently 
contemplated  the  future  with  anxious  forebodings ;  but  to  my 
question,  "  On  which  side  will  Kentucky  stand  in  case  other 
Southern  States  shall  follow  the  example  of  South  Carolina  and 
war  shall  be  the  consequence ?"  "Kentucky  will  stand  with 
them,"  was  the  reply.  "  Her  interests  and  sympathies  are  in 
that  direction,  and  when  they  go  she  will  go  also."  The  seces 
sion  leaders,  who  were  well  informed  in  regard  to  the  sentiment 
of  the  dominant  party  in  each  of  these  States,  had  therefore 
good  reason  to  expect  that  if  the  Government  should  undertake 
to  save  the  Union  by  force,  all  of  the  slave-holding  States  would 
stand  together.  It  is  true  that  in  both  Missouri  and  Kentucky 
a  strong  Union  sentiment  was  developed  soon  after  hostilities 
had  been  commenced,  and  both  furnished  regiments  which 
were  greatly  distinguished  for  their  gallantry  ;  but  when  the 
storm-clouds  were  merely  gathering,  and  before  a  bolt  had 
been  discharged,  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  both  States  was 
in  the  direction  I  have  named,  and  both  would  have  united 
with  the  South  if  they  could  have  had  their  own  way.  Nor 
was  the  expectation  unreasonable  that  the  Western  free  States 
which  bordered  upon  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  would 
yield  but  reluctant  aid  to  the  Government  if  it  should  resort 
to  arms  to  enforce  obedience  to  its  authority.  My  duties  as 
president  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  required  my  presence  at 


156     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Indianapolis  when  the  Legislature  of  1860-61  was  in  session, 
and  I  was  astounded  by  the  speeches  of  some  of  its  most  prom 
inent  members  against  what  the}7  called  coercion — the  coercion 
of  sovereign  States.  In  their  opinion  the  Union  was  not  worth 
preserving  if  it  could  only  be  preserved  by  force.  Indiana, 
they  asserted,  would  furnish  no  soldiers,  nor  would  she  permit 
soldiers  from  other  States  to  pass  through  her  territory  for  the 
subjugation  of  the  South.  One  enthusiastic  speaker  to  whom 
I  listened,  and  who  did  good  service  to  the  Government  as  a 
colonel  of  an  Indiana  regiment,  declared  that  armed  coercion- 
ists  would  have  to  pass  over  his  dead  body  before  they  crossed 
the  Ohio  River.  This  was  very  absurd,  but  it  was  listened  to 
with  favor,  and  it  voiced  the  prevailing  feeling  of  a  strong 
minority,  if  not  a  majority,  of  the  House.  The  sentiment  of 
the  people  of  southern  Illinois  was  in  sympathy  with  that  of 
the  people  of  southern  Indiana.  In  fact,  the  leaders  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  both  States  and  some  of  the  leading 
Republicans  also  were  opposed  to  coercion.  All  this  was  well 
known  throughout  the  South,  and  although  it  is  now  certain 
that  the  conflict  could  not  have  been  long  deferred,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  Southern  States  were  encouraged  in  their 
attempted  secession  by  the  expectation  that  the  North  would 
be  so  divided  that  the  Government  would  be  unable  to  prevent 
its  dismemberment. 

The  darkest  days  for  the  Republic  were  between  the  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  November,  I860,  and  the  13th  of 
April,  1861.  The  hostility  to  slavery  in  the  Northern  States 
had  been  steadily  increasing  from  the  date  of  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  The  number  of  those  who 
were  disposed  to  disturb  slaver}7"  in  the  States  where  it 
existed  was  small,  but  the  number  opposed  to  its  extension 
was,  throughout  the  free  States,  overwhelming.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  South  demanded  that  the  Territories  should  be  open 
to  it  without  regard  to  the  will  of  their  inhabitants.  The 
Southern  members  of  Congress  who  voted  for  the  repeal  of 


SOUTHEKN   SENTIMENT.  157 

the  compromise  under  which  Missouri  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  with  slavery,  did  not  so  vote  because  they  favored 
popular  sovereignty,  but  to  free  the  South  from  an  odious 
restriction  for  which  there  was,  in  their  opinion,  no  warrant  in 
the  Constitution.  To  them  popular  sovereignty  was  only 
another  name  for  squatter  sovereignty,  which  they  held  in 
contempt.  That  they  should  not  be  permitted  to  take  their 
property  into  a  Territory  and  retain  it  there  after  the  Terri 
tory  had  become  a  State,  merely  because  there  happened  to  be 
a  majority  of  the  settlers — who,  having  little  or  nothing  to 
take  with  them,  could  move  more  readily  than  slave-owners — 
opposed  to  slavery,  seemed  to  them  to  be  the  height  of  injus 
tice  and  absurdity.  Kansas  became  a  State  in  which  slavery 
was  prohibited  after  a  struggle  which  created  intense  feeling 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  was  in  that  State  that  the  first 
blood  was  shed  in  what  was  really  a  contest  between  the  sec 
tions.  It  was  the  result  of  this  contest  that  convinced  the 
South  that  slavery  henceforth  was  to  be  confined  to  its  exist 
ing  boundaries,  and  that  so  strengthened  the  disunion  senti 
ment  that  little  provocation  was  needed  to  cause  an  open 
rupture.  This  provocation  was  found  in  the  election  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  The  political  leaders  in  the  Southern  States  had  for 
many  years  regarded  a  division  of  the  Union,  on  the  line  which 
separated  the  slave-holding  States  from  the  free,  as  something 
more  than  a  contingency.  They  had,  through  emissaries  who 
had  visited  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  sounding  the  feelings  and 
opinions  of  European  statesmen,  ascertained  that  the  dismem 
berment  of  the  Republic  would  be  regarded  with  favor  on  that 
side  of  the  Atlantic ;  and  they  thought  that  they  were  war 
ranted  in  the  expectation  that  if  the  Southern  States  should  as 
a  body  undertake  to  resume  the  rights  which  they  had  surren 
dered  in  becoming  States,  and  to  form  an  independent  gov 
ernment,  recognition  by  at  least  France  and  England  would 
speedily  follow.  They  hoped  that  secession  would  be  accom 
plished  without  war,  but  they  intended  that  the  South  should 


158  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF   A    CENTURY. 

be  prepared  for  war,  if  Avar  should  become  inevitable,  in  which 
the*y  were  confident  of  success,  a  solid  South  being  arrayed 
against  a  divided  North. 

"While  such  was  the  condition  of  things  in  the  South,  the 
people  of  the  Northern  and  Western  States  pursued  their 
usual  avocations  quite  unconscious  of  impending  danger.  The 
threats  of  secession  by  those  who  claimed  to  be  the  exponents 
of  Southern  sentiment  were  considered  merely  an  offset  to  the 
denunciations  of  slaverv,  and  of  the  Constitution  which  recoo1- 

•J  '  O 

nized  it,  by  abolitionists.  Most  men  in  the  North  who  had  given 
the  subject  consideration  were  convinced  that,  in  the  language 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  country  could  not  permanently  remain  part 
slave  and  part  free  ;  and  that  slavery,  inconsistent  as  it  was  with 
the  principles  upon  which  the  Government  was  founded,  must 
sooner  or  later  give  way  to  freedom,  but  how  this  was  to  be 
accomplished  none  could  say.  Slavery  was  the  one  great  ques 
tion  which  the  boldest  and  ablest  of  Northern  statesmen  con 
fessed  themselves  unable  to  deal  with.  Few,  if  any,  however, 
regarded  war  as  the  means  by  which  it  was  to  be  uprooted  and 
the  Union  preserved.  And  so  State  after  State  followed  the 
example  of  South  Carolina,  adopted  ordinances  of  secession, 
took  possession  of  all  the  property  of  the  United  States  within 
their  reach,  and  set  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Government 
at  defiance.  Indeed  it  seemed  for  a  time  that  the  Union  was 
to  perish  without  a  blow  being  struck  in  its  defence.  In  trav 
elling  through  southern  Indiana  in  the  autumn  of  1860  and 
the  following  winter,  after  South  Carolina  had  passed  the  or 
dinance  of  secession,  I  was  amazed  and  disheartened  by  the 
general  prevalence  of  the  non-coercive  sentiment,  the  seeming 
indifference  of  the  people  to  the  danger  to  which  the  Govern 
ment  was  exposed.  As  far  as  I  could  learn,  the  same  opposi 
tion  to  coercion  prevailed  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  other 
free  States  bordering  upon  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  and 
I  could  not  help  feeling  that  the  Union,  which  I  had  regarded 
as  being  indissoluble,  was  without  real  strength  or  cohesiveness 


HEKOISM    OF   THE   SOUTH.  159 

— that  it  was  destitute  of  self-sustaining  power — that  it  had  no 
deep  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the  people.  This  feeling  was 
of  short  duration.  The  report  of  the  attack  upon  Fort  Sum- 
ter  was  like  an  electric  shock  to  a  body  seemingly  dead,  but 
full  of  vitality.  In  a  day  the  current  of  sentiment  throughout 
all  of  the  non-slaveholding  States  was  changed.  Party  lines 
were  swept  away — party  divisions  ceased.  Men  who  had 
denounced  coercion  at  once  became  its  advocates ;  those  who 
had  spoken  of  the  Union  which  could  only  be  maintained  by 
force  as  not  being  worth  preserving,  were  now  its  champions 
and  foremost  in  demanding  its  preservation,  no  matter  what 
might  be  the  cost. 

I  was  not  among  those  who  supposed  that  the  war  would 
be  a  short  one.  I  knew  that  the  South  was  better  prepared 
for  war  than  the  North,  that  there  were  no  braver  men  in  the 
world  than  in  the  Southern  States,  and  that  if  they  should  be 
thoroughly  united,  time  and  superior  numbers  of  equally  gal 
lant  men  would  be  required  to  conquer  them.  I  expected 
that  the  struggle  would  be  severe  and  expensive,  but  I  had  no 
expectation  that  it  would  be  protracted  as  it  was.  I  under 
rated  the  persistency  of  the  Southern  people.  I  did  not  sup 
pose  it  to  be  possible  that  the  war  would  continue  for  four 
long  years,  and  until  the  resources  of  the  South  had  become 
exhausted.  The  devotion  of  the  people  of  the  South  to  what 
they  now  acknowledge  to  have  been  a  bad  cause,  and  the 
sacrifices  they  made  to  sustain  it,  are  without  a  parallel  in 
history.  Their  persistent  heroism  commanded  the  world's 
respect,  although  displayed  in  efforts  to  destroy  a  government 
under  which  they  had  greatly  prospered,  and  to  establish  one 
of  their  own  of  which  slavery  was  to  be  the  corner-stone. 
Fortunately  for  themselves  and  for  the  cause  of  liberty  every 
where,  their  efforts  were  not  crowned  with  success. 

Although  I  had  not  looked  for  decided  Union  victories  in 
the  early  stages  of  the  war,  I  was  quite  unprepared  for  the 
defeat  of  the  Union  forces  in  the  first  battle,  at  Bull  Kun.  At 


160  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A  CENTURY. 

one  o'clock  of  the  day  on  which  that  battle  was  fought,  as 
I  went  from  my  office  in  Indianapolis  to  the  Bates  House 
for  dinner,  the  boys  were  crying  in  the  street,  "  Great  battle 
at  Bull  Run — Rebels  defeated."  A  glance  at  one  of  the  slips 
which  had  been  printed  at  the  office  of  the  Indianapolis 
Journal  confirmed  the  cry  of  the  venders.  I  did  not  shout  as 
the  boys  did,  although  I  felt  like  it,  but  I  was  overjoyed,  as 
were  the  other  guests,  Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans.  We 
drank  to  the  health  of  each  other,  and  especially  to  the  health 
of  the  boys  in  blue.  Jubilant  were  we  all,  and  jubilant  were 
the  people  in  the  streets.  The  joy  was  of  short  duration.  In 
two  or  three  hours  after  I  had  returned  to  my  office  I  heard 
the  boys  crying  again,  as  it  seemed  to  me  in  a  different  tone. 
Opening  my  window,  so  that  I  might  hear  distinctly,  my 
heart  almost  stopped  beating  as  I  heard  the  words,  "Rebels 
reenforced — Union  army  badly  beaten — Union  soldiers  flee 
ing  for  their  lives — thousands  cut  down  in  their  flight  by  the 
Black  Horse  Cavalry."  From  the  "  Mount  of  Delight  "  I  was 
at  once  pretty  near  to  the  "  Slough  of  Despond."  There  was 
no  more  shouting  that  day  in  the  streets  of  Indianapolis,  nor 
was  there  any  over  substantial  Union  victories  for  long,  long, 
weary  months. 

Eight  or  ten  days  after  this  first  Bull  Run  battle  I  visited 
Washington.  My  feelings  when  I  left  home  were  not  buoyant ; 
they  were  not  improved  by  my  visit.  Washington  seemed  to 
me  to  be  utterly  demoralized.  I  did  not  see  one  really  cheer 
ful  face,  nor  did  I  hear  one  encouraging  word.  The  President 
was  criticised  ;  the  manner  in  which  the  battle  was  fought 
was  criticised  ;  criticism  was  the  order  of  the  day.  The 
gloom  which  this  defeat  of  the  Union  army  had  cast  over 
the  North  was  concentrated  in  Washington.  The  battle  had 
ended  in  a  panic— the  city  was  in  a  panic.  Members  of  Con 
gress  and  other  civilians  who  had  gone  out  to  witness  a 
Union  victory  had  returned  stricken  with  terror.  If  the 
Confederates  had  known  the  real  condition  of  Washington, 


EFFECT  OF  THE  BATTLE  OF  BULL  RUN.        361 

and  the  character  of  its  defences,  they  might  have  captured 
the  city  and  placed  their  banners  upon  its  public  buildings. 
In  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  I  reached  the  city  Mr. 
Lincoln  held  his  last  reception  for  the  season.  It  was  one  of 
the  hot  days  of  Washington.  The  Executive  Mansion  was 
crowded.  Large  numbers  of  the  officers  of  the  army  in  full 
uniform  were  present.  The  President  looked  jaded  and  care 
worn.  Everybody  seemed  to  be  trying  to  be  cheerful,  but 
none  were,  except  perhaps  a  few  whose  sympathies  were  with 
the  South.  The  next  morning  I  called  with  a  few  friends 
upon  the  President.  He  received  us  kindly,  and  tried  to 
amuse  us  with  anecdotes.  I  did  not  at  that  time  know  him 
well,  and  I  was  surprised  that  he  should  relate  anecdotes  when 
the  Government  of  which  he  was  the  head  seemed  to  be  in 
imminent  peril.  I  have  to  confess  that  I  left  Washington  in  a 
very  despondent  mood. 

The  reaction  from  the  despondency  into  which  the  North 
was  plunged  by  the  result  of  the  first  battle  of  the  war 
was  slow,  but  it  was  sure  and  permanent.  The  defeat  of  the 
Union  Army,  disastrous  as  it  was,  was  not  without  com 
pensation.  It  opened  to  some  extent  the  eyes  of  the  people 
of  the  North  to  the  greatness  of  the  conflict  in  which  the 
nation  was  engaged — to  the  necessity  of  united  efforts  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Government ;  it  hushed  party  strife  ; 
it  cemented  the  Union  sentiment  throughout  the  country. 
Thereafter  there  was  no  more  despondency  in  the  North. 
Many  misfortunes  followed,  but  devotion  to  the  Union,  and 
the  determination  to  preserve  it,  were  strengthened  rather 
than  weakened  by  them.  The  disaster  at  Ball's  Bluff,  where 
Senator  Baker,  distinguished  alike  for  his  eloquence  and 
bravery,  was  slain — the  reverses  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac  under  General  McClellan — the  crushing  blow  which  it  re 
ceived  at  Fredericksburg  under  General  Burnside — its  defeat 
in  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Kun — sent  bitter  grief  into  thou 
sands  of  households  and  cast  gloom  over  the  North ;  but 
11 


162  MEN  AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

they  caused  neither  dismay  nor  despondency.  The  determina 
tion  of  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  all  the  free  States  to 
preserve  the  Government  and  the  Union,  no  matter  what 
might  be  the  cost  in  treasure  and  blood,  was  never  stronger 
than  it  was  when  the  Democratic  Convention  at  Chicago,  in 
August,  1864,  declared  that  the  war  had  failed  to  accomplish 
the  object  for  which  it  had  been  waged,  and  that  hostilities 
should  be  discontinued,  and  nominated  General  McClellan  for 
the  Presidency  upon  a  peace  platform. 

"  I  am  here,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  one  of  the  last  conver 
sations  I  had  with  him,  "  by  the  blunders  of  the  Democrats-. 
If,  instead  of  resolving  that  the  war  was  a  failure,  they  had 
resolved  that  I  was  a  failure  and  denounced  me  for  not  more 
vigorously  prosecuting  it,  I  should  not  have  been  reelected, 
and  I  reckon  that  you  would  not  have  been  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

My  opposition  to  the  National  Banking  System  in  1862— Justin  S.  Morrill — 
Visit  to  the  Eastern  States — Am  requested  by  Secretary  Chase  to  become 
Comptroller  of  the  Currency — My  Connection  with  the  Bank  of  the  State 
of  Indiana  Dissolved — George  W.  Rathbone  my  Successor — Samuel  T. 
Howard,  Deputy  Comptroller — Rules  in  Regard  to  Appointments — John 
BuiToughs — Organization  of  the  National  Banks — Unwillingness  of  the 
State  Banks  to  become  National  Banks,  and  the  Reason  therefor — Especial 
Objection  to  their  being  Known  by  Numerals — My  successors  as  Comp 
troller  of  the  Currency — Mr.  Chase's  Opinion  of  the  Legal  Tender  Acts — 
First  Case  in  regard  to  their  Constitutionality — Appointments  of  Justices 
Strong  and  Bradley— Extracts  from  Judge  Strong's  Opinion  in  the  Second 
Legal  Tender  Case — Decision  in  the  First  Legal  Tender  Case  Overruled 
by  the  Second — The  Third  Legal  Tender  Case — Free  Comments. 

IN"  1862  I  went  to  Washington  to  oppose  the  passage  of 
the  bill  to  establish  a  national  banking  system,  which,  if  it 
passed,  might  be  greatly  prejudicial  to  the  State  banks,  of 
one  of  the  largest  of  which  I  was  president.  One  of  the 
members  of  Congress  with  whom  I  had  interviews  was  Justin 
S.  Morrill,  who  was  as  much  opposed  to  the  bill  as  I  was. 
My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Morrill,  thus  commenced,  proved 
to  be  not  only  pleasant  but  valuable.  By  the  support  which 
he  gave  to  me  during  my  administration  of  the  Treasury 
Department,  he  placed  me  under  obligations  that  I  can  never 
forget.  No  man  is  more  worthy  of  the  honors  which  have 
been  conferred  upon  him— no  man  better  merits  the  high  repu 
tation  for  uprightness  and  intelligence  which  he  enjoys  in  the 
Senate  and  throughout  the  country,  than  Mr.  Morrill. 

In  March,  1863,  I  was  again  in  Washington.  I  had  left 
home  with  my  wife  to  be  absent  for  a  couple  of  weeks  on  a 
pleasure  trip.  I  had  been  a  hard  worker  without  intermis 
sion  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  so  we  decided  that  we 


164     XEN  AXD  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

would  make  a  flying  visit  to  the  Eastern  cities,  letting  no  one 
at  home  know  where  letters  would  reach  us,  in  order  that  we 
might  enjoy  a  few  genuine  holidays.  In  the  afternoon  of 
the  day  before  we  left  Washington,  we  went  through  the 
Treasury  Department.  As  I  had  no  business  to  transact,  and 
was  not  acquainted  with  Secretary  Chase,  I  did  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  call  upon  him,  but  as  we  passed  by  the  door  of  his 
room,  I  handed  my  card  to  his  messenger.  The  next  morning 
we  were  on  our  way  to  Baltimore,  where  we  spent  a  day  very 
pleasantly.  Thence  we  went  to  Philadelphia,  New  York  and 
Plattsburg,  where  we  had  been  married  twenty-five  years  before, 
and  were  at  home  again  within  the  time  fixed  for  our  return. 
Here,  to  my  surprise,  I  found  a  number  of  telegrams,  some  of 
which  had  followed  me  from  place  to  place,  requesting  me  to 
return  to  Washington,  and  a  letter  from  Mr.  Chase,  offering 
to  me  the  position  of  Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  and  express 
ing  an  earnest  wish  that  I  should  accept  it.  My  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  establishment  of  a  national  banking  sj'stem 
underwent  a  change  after  the  bill  which  I  had  opposed  had 
been  amended  and  become  a  law.  It  had  become  quite  certain 
that  the  war  was  not  to  be  brought  to  an  early  close,  and  that 
the  expense  of  prosecuting  it,  already  largely  exceeding  its 
anticipated  cost  when  hostilities  were  commenced,  must  be 
enormously  increased  before  it  was  ended.  It  was  also  equally 
certain  that  the  notes  of  the  State  banks,  imperfectly  secured 
as  most  of  them  were,  could  not  be  safely  received  in  the 
collection  of  the  public  revenues.  I  had  therefore  been  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  banks  with  a  perfectly  secured  circula 
tion,  which  would  be  current  throughout  the  Union,  were  an 
absolute  necessity,  and  a  careful  examination  of  the  Bank  Act 
had  satisfied  me  that  this  necessity  had  been  met  by  it.  But 
I  was  president  of  a  bank  which  I  knew  was  sound  to  the 
core,  and  in  whose  welfare  I  was  deeply  interested.  The  offer 
of  Mr.  Chase,  was  therefore,  not  only  unexpected,  but  embar 
rassing.  I  was  wedded  to  the  bank  which  I  had  worked  hard 


COMPTROLLER  OF  THE  CURRENCY.          165 

to  place  in  a  perfectly  solvent  condition.  I  could  not  resign 
the  presidency  of  it  without  severing  very  agreeable  official 
relations,  nor  without  considerable  pecuniary  loss,  and  I  had 
no  desire  to  go  to  Washington.  On  the  other  hand,  I  had 
been  forced  to  admit  that  there  was  a  necessity  for  a  national 
banking  system,  and  I  felt  that  the  Government  had  a  right 
to  any  services  that  I  might  be  able  to  render  in  the 
tremendous  struggle  in  which  it  was  engaged.  Being  thus  in 

oo  o     o  o 

a  strait,  I  did  what  all  men  who  have  sensible  wives  ought  to 
do,  when  important  questions  are  to  be  considered  and  acted 
upon — I  consulted  my  wife.  The  conclusion  was  that  I  should 
resign  the  presidency  of  the  bank,  and  go  to  Washington  to 
organize  the  National  Currency  Bureau,  with  the  understand 
ing,  however,  that  I  should  remain  in  Washington  no  longer 
than  might  be  necessary  to  give  the  new  banking  system  a 
successful  start.  As  soon  as  this  conclusion  was  reached,  I 
informed  Mr.  Chase  that  I  would  accept  the  office  which  he 
had  so  kindly  tendered  to  me.  This  done,  I  called  a  special 
meeting  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Bank  of  the  State, 
according  to  the  requirements  of  its  by-laws,  at  which,  not 
without  feelings  of  deep  regret  on  my  part,  and,  as  I  had  good 
reason  to  think,  on  the  part  of  the  directors  also,  I  resigned 
the  presidency,  and  in  a  few  days  I  was  in  Washington.  My 
successor  as  president  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  was  George 
W.  Rathbone,  a  gentleman  of  sound  judgment  and  great 
aptitude  for  business,  who  held  the  office  until  the  bank  went 
into  liquidation,  and  the  branches  were  reorganized  under  the 
national  banking  system. 

My  interview  with  Mr.  Chase,  on  my  arrival  at  Washing 
ton,  was  very  pleasant.  I  was  most  favorably  impressed  by 
his  appearance,  and  by  the  clearness  and  directness  with 
which  he  expressed  his  views  upon  the  financial  condition 
of  the  country,  and  the  necessity  of  a  paper  currency,  other 
than  the  United  States  notes,  of  undoubted  solvency.  He 
spoke  of  the  national  banking  system  as  a  measure  of  his 


166  MEN   AND    MEASURES   OF  HALF   A   CENTURY. 

own,  in  the  success  of  which  he  felt  a  very  deep  interest.  As 
the  interview  was  about  to  close,  I  said  to  him  that  I  had  but 
one  request  to  make,  which  was,  that  as  I  was  to  be  responsible 
for  the  proper  organization  and  management  of  the  bureau, 
which  might  become  a  very  important  one,  I  should  have  the 
selection  of  my  clerks.  To  this  he  readily  assented.  "  Man 
age,"  said  he,  "  the  bureau  in  your  own  way  ;  when  you  need 
clerks,  and  as  you  need  them,  send  their  names  to  me  and 
they  will  be  appointed."  This  understanding  was  fully  carried 
out.  In  no  instance  while  I  was  Comptroller,  was  an  appoint 
ment  made  for  the  bureau  which  was  not  at  my  request. 

The  organization  of  the  bureau  was  undertaken  with 
Samuel  T.  Howard,  Deputy  Comptroller,  who  proved  to  be 
by  his  executive  abilities,  intelligence  and  industry  admirably 
fitted  for  the  place  ;  and  two  young  ladies,  Miss  John,  who 
died  early,  and  Miss  Wilson,  now  Mrs.  McCormick,  who,  with 
the  exception  of  a  couple  of  years  of  married  life,  has  ever 
since  been  employed  in  the  bureau,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
meritorious  of  its  numerous  clerks.  In  the  selection  of  clerks, 
my  habit  was  to  be  governed  by  the  appearance  and  manners 
of  applicants  rather  than  by  the  recommendations  which  they 
presented.  One  day  a  young  man  called  at  my  office  and  said 
to  me  that  he  understood  that  the  force  of  the  bureau  was  to 
be  increased,  and  that  he  should  be  glad  to  be  employed.  I 
asked  him  if  he  had  any  recommendations.  "  I  have  not,"  he 
replied  ;  "  I  must  be  my  own."  I  looked  at  his  sturdy  form 
and  intelligent  face,  which  impressed  me  so  favorably  that  I 
sent  his  name  to  the  Secretary,  and  the  next  day  he  was  at 
work  as  a  twelve  hundred  dollar  clerk.  I  was  not  mistaken. 
He  was  an  excellent  clerk,  competent,  faithful,  willing.  Since 
then  he  has  been  a  worker  in  a  different  field,  and  become  a 
most  captivating  and  instructive  writer.  I  never  see  an 
article  from  the  pen  of  John  Burroughs,  which  I  do  not  read 
with  pleasure,  and  without  calling  to  mind  his  appearance 
when  he  said  to  me,  "  I  must  be  my  owrn  recommendation." 


ORGAXIZIXG   THE   SYSTEM.  167 

This  was  only  one  of  many  somewhat  similar  cases.  I  do  not 
recollect  an  instance  of  appointments  thus  made  that  did  not 
prove  to  have  been  judicious.  The  privilege  which  was 
granted  to  me  as  Comptroller  was  granted  by  me  to  the 
heads  of  bureaus  while  I  was  Secretary.  It  is  one  that  ought 
not  to  be  denied  to  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  manner 
in  which  important  duties  are  to  be  performed.  Especially 
should  it  not  be  denied  to  officers  like  the  Treasurer  and 
Assistant  Treasurers  of  the  United  States,  who  are  custodians 
of  public  moneys — who  give  bonds  for  the  faithful  discharge 
of  their  duties,  and  who  are  legally  liable  for  losses  that  may 
happen  through  the  mistake  or  dishonesty  of  their  subordi 
nates. 

Considerable  time  was  required  after. my  appointment  for 
the  preparation  of  circulating  notes  and  of  forms  to  be  used 
in  the  organization  of  banks,  and  for  the  consideration 
of  the  numerous  details  in  the  bureau,  in  order  that  the 
machinery  might  be  in  good  running  order  when  active  busi 
ness  was  commenced.  Summer  had  come  before  the  First 
National  Bank  was  authorized  to  commence  business.  The 
First  National  of  Philadelphia,  took  the  lead,  with  a  capital  of 
$150,000.  '  Its  organization  certificate  was  issued  on  the  20th 
of  June.  On  the  same  day  certificates  were  issued  to  the  First 
National  of  New  Haven,  with  a  capital  of  $300,000  ;  to  the 
First  National,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio,  with  a  capital  of  $150,- 
000 ;  to  the  First  National  of  Stamford,  Connecticut,  with  a 
capital  of  $300,000.  On  the  22d,  a  certificate  was  issued  to 
the  First  National  of  Chicago  (whose  present  business  is  larger 
than  that  of  any  other  bank  in  the  country),  with  a  capital 
of  $100,000  only  ;  on  the  13th  of  July,  to  the  First  National 
of  Cincinnati,  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000.  The  organizations 
then  increased  rapidly,  but  mainly  in  the  Middle  and  Western 
States.  Most  of  the  bankers  in  the  large  commercial  cities  of 
the  East  regarded  the  system  with  distrust.  It  did  not  "  take" 
at  the  start,  either  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  or  New  York. 


168  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  New  York,  the  richest  bank 
ing  mine  ever  opened  in  that  city,  was  chartered  on  the  21st  of 
July,  with  a  capital  of  $200,000  ;  the  Second,  on  the  13th  of 
August,  with  a  capital  of  $300,000 ;  the  Third,  on  the  21st  of 
September,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000.  No  more  were  organ 
ized  in  New  York  until  February  27,  1864,  when  the  Fourth 
National  was  organized  with  a  capital  of  $5,000,000.  It  is 
proper  for  me  to  remark  that  the  banks  which  were  organized 
with  small  capitals  reserved  the  right  to  increase  them,  and  in 
most  cases  they  were  from  time  to  time  largely  increased. 
None  of  the  large  State  banks  were  converted  into  national 
banks  until  nearly  seven  hundred  new  banks  had  been  organ 
ized.  There  were  four  causes  for  the  unwillingness  of  the  State 
banks  to  become  national  banks. 

First :  The  apprehension  that  the  national  system  might 
prove  to  be  a  repetition  of  the  free-bank  system  of  the  AYest, 
which  had  been  a  disreputable  failure. 

Second :  The  opinion  that  in  becoming  national  banks,  and 
issuing  notes  secured  by  Government  bonds,  their  interests 
would  be  so  identified  with  the  interests  of  the  Government, 
their  credit  so  dependent  upon,  so  interwoven  with,  the  public 
credit,  that  they  would  be  ruined  if  the  integrity  of  the  Union 
should  not  be  preserved. 

Third :  'The  danger  of  hostile  legislation  by  Congress,  or 
the  annoyances  to  which  they  might  be  exposed  by  Congres 
sional  interference  with  their  business  for  partisan  purposes. 

Fourth  :  The  requirement,  that  in  order  to  become  national 
banks,  they  must  relinquish  the  names  to  which  they  had 
become  attached,  and  be  known  by  numerals. 

I  had  no  great  difficulty  in  satisfying  the  bankers  with 
whom  I  had  personal  interviews  or  correspondence  that  three 
of  these  objections  were  unsubstantial.  In  answer  to  the  first, 
I  pointed  out  the  important  particulars  in  which  the  national 
system  differed  from  the  free-bank  system  of  the  West,  in  the 
requirement  that  the  capitals  of  the  national  banks  should 


OVERCOMING    OPPOSITION.  169 

be  real,  and  fully  paid  up ;  that  their  circulation  was  to  be 
secured  by  United  States  bonds,  with  ten  per  cent,  margin ; 
that  in  case  of  the  failure  of  a  bank,  its  notes  would  be  at  once 
redeemable  at  the  United  States  Treasury ;  that  all  the  banks 
would  be  subjected  to  frequent  examinations  by  men  appointed 
by  the  Treasury  Department.  In  answer  to  the  second,  I  took 
the  ground  that  the  interests  of  the  State  banks  were  already 
so  involved  with  those  of  the  Government,  that  the  fate  of  the 
latter  would  be  the  fate  of  the  former  also  ;  that  whether  they 
remained  State  banks  or  became  national,  they  would  stand  or 
fall  with  the  Government.  In  answer  to  the  third,  I  expressed 
the  opinion  that  there  was  as  little  to  fear  from  Congressional 
as  from  State  legislation ;  that  if  there  was  trouble  to  be  appre 
hended  in  either  direction,  it  would  be  in  the  control  which  the 
banks  might  have  over  Congress,  rather  than  in  annoying  inter 
ference  by  Congress  with  their  legitimate  business.  To  the 
fourth  I  could  make  no  reply.  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  unrea 
sonable  that  the  State  banks  should  be  required,  in  order  to  be 
converted  into  national  banks,  to  surrender  the  names  that  had 
been  made  honorable  by  the  manner  in  which  their  business 
had  been  conducted,  and  accept  for  a  name,  a  number.  This 
was  the  only  point  on  which  I  differed  from  Mr.  Chase  in  the 
management  of  the  bureau.  He  had,  before  I  met  him,  formed 
the  opinion  that  the  banks  should  be  named  the  First,  Second, 
Third,  and  so  on,  of  the  town  or  city  in  which  they  were  estab 
lished.  This  he  considered  necessary  to  give  the  system  a 
national  character.  Few  men  were  more  tenacious  of  their 
opinions  than  Mr.  Chase,  and  he  did  not  yield  in  this  instance 
until  he  found  that  adherence  to  his  ruling  stood  directly  in 
the  way  of  the  perfect  success  of  the  system,  which  he  believed 
to  be  essential  to  the  national  welfare. 

"  Do  you  expect  that  the  Bank  of  Commerce,"  said  its 
president  to  me,  "'  will  relinquish  its  honored  name  and  be 
known  as  the  Tenth  or  the  Twentieth  National  Bank  of  New 
York?  If  you  do  you  will  find  yourself  mistaken.''  On  this 


170     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

point  the  leading  State  banks  were  a  unit.  When  it  was 
yielded  by  the  Secretary,  and  they  were  permitted  to  retain 
their  old  names,  with  the  word  national  prefixed  or  affixed, 
they  came  into  the  national  system  with  a  rush — Boston,  as  is 
her  wont  in  all  public  enterprises,  taking  the  lead.  Within 
less  than  two  years  the  State  banks  were  superseded  by  the 
national,  and  their  notes,  the  most  of  which  had  at  best, 
merely  a  local  and  uncertain  credit,  were  withdrawn  from  cir 
culation,  and  their  place  was  filled  b}^  notes  of  perfect  solvency, 
and  current  through  the  Union.  All  this  was  accomplished 
without  a  ripple  of  disturbance  to  the  current  business  of  the 
country.  The  bureau  was  a  bus}T  one,  and  although  the  clerical 
force  was  rapidly  increased  by  raw  recruits,  the  work  was  so 
systematized,  the  machinery  kept  in  such  good  condition,  that 
there  was  no  confusion  and  no  accumulation  of  unfinished 
business.  My  labors  were  severe  and  incessant,  but  I  look 
back  with  satisfaction  upon  the  two  years  which  were  spent  in 
the  organization  of  the  National  Currency  Bureau  on  a  basis 
which  should  only  need  extension  for  its  increasing  business, 
and  in  putting  into  operation  a  banking  system  admirably 
adapted  to  our  republican  institutions,  and  which,  by  the  se 
curity  which  it  gives  to  bank-note  circulation,  is  the  best  that 
has  ever  been  devised.  The  office  of  Comptroller  has  been  ably 
filled,  since  I  resigned  it,  by  Mr.  John  J.  Tvnox,  who  held  it  for 
many  years,  and  whose  reports  are  sound  in  doctrine,  lucid, 
and  instructive,  and  by  his  worthy  successor,  Mr.  Henry  W. 
Cannon,  and  by  his  accomplished  successor,  Mr.  W.  L.  Tren- 
holm. 

Mr.  Chase  has  been  known  as  the  father  of  the  greenbacks. 
It  was  by  his  advice  that  they  were  issued,  but  it  was  not  by 
his  advice  that  they  were  made  a  legal  tender.  He  thought 
that  a  large  issue  of  United  States  notes  was  absolutely  neces 
sary  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  the  country  with  currency, 
and  for  aiding  the  sale  of  bonds  which  were  to  be  the  main 
reliance  of  the  Government  for  the  means  for  prosecuting  the 


CHASE'S  VIEW  OF  THE  GREENBACKS.  171 

war.  lie  was  opposed  to  the  clause  that  made  the  notes  a 
legal  tender,  and  his  opposition  to  it  was  only  overcome  by  the 
apprehension  of  his  friends,  and  perhaps  his  own,  that  unless 
this  character  were  given  to  them  they  might  not  be  current, 
lie  never  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Legal  Tender  Acts  were 
constitutional,  nor  did  he  expect  that  the  notes  of  which  they 
authorized  the  issue  would  become  a  permanent  circulation. 
This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  they  were  made  convertible 
into  the  first  issue  (five  hundred  millions)  of  the  six  per  cent, 
five-twenty  bonds.  It  was  Mr.  Chase's  expectation  that  the 
notes  would  greatly  aid  the  negotiation  of  the  loan,  and  that 
they  would  be  absorbed  by  the  bonds  as  soon  as  the  market 
price  of  bonds  was  above  par.  The  notes  did  facilitate  the 
negotiation  of  the  bonds,  and  they  would  have  disappeared 
from  circulation  if  the  provision  of  the  act  which  made  them 
convertible  into  bonds  had  not  been  repealed.  This  provision 
was  repealed  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Chase,  because  he  thought 
it  stood  in  the  way  of  successful  negotiation  of  further  neces 
sary  loans. 

When  the  war  was  over  and  the  army  had  been  disbanded, 
and  all  demands  upon  the  treasury  had  been  provided  for, 
some  months  after  I  was  appointed  Secretary,  the  great  work 
of  converting  before  they  matured  the  compound  interest 
bearing  notes,  the  seven  and  three-tenth  notes,  etc.,  etc.,  into 
bonds,  was  to  be  undertaken.  While  this  work  was  going  on, 
it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  there  should  be  no  dis 
turbance  in  the  financial  condition  of  the  country,  and  I  was 
in  constant  fear  that  a  case  then  pending  before  the  Supreme 
Court,  involving  the  constitutionality  of  the  Legal  Tender  Acts, 
might  be  taken  up  and  decided  adversely  before  this  work  had 
been  completed.  I  had  no  reason  to  doubt  as  to  what  the 
opinion  of  Mr.  Chase,  the  Chief  Justice,  would  be  when  he  was 
called  upon  to  face  the  question  judicially ;  and  I  thought  if 
he,  who  was  in  a  measure  responsible  for  the  acts,  considered 
them  unconstitutional,  that  his  associates  would  be  quite  sure 


172  MEN    AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTUEY. 

to  agree  with  him.  I  was  greatly  relieved  when  all  the  tem 
porary  obligations  of  the  Government  had  been  converted  into 
bonds,  and  the  Treasury  Department  was  prepared  for  the 
expected  decision,  that  the  Legal  Tender  Acts  w^ere  not  war 
ranted  by  the  Constitution.  The  case  referred  to  was  dis 
missed — on  what  grounds  I  do  not  recollect — and  there  was  no 
decision  by  the  Supreme  Court  upon  this  most  important  ques 
tion  until  after  I  had  ceased  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

The  first  case  involving  the  constitutionality  of  the  Legal 
Tender  Acts,  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court,  was  in  December, 
1869  (Hepburn  v.  Griswold).  The  question  in  this  case  was, 
whether  the  holder  of  a  note  executed  before  the  passage  of  the 
first  Legal  Tender  Act  (the  Act  of  February  25, 1862)  when  coin 
was  the  only  standard  of  value,  should  be  compelled  to  receive 
in  payment  thereof  legal  tender  notes,  which  then,  measured  by 
coin,  were  at  a  heavy  discount — in  other  words,  whether  Con 
gress  had  the  constitutional  authority  to  make  anything  but 
gold  and  silver  lawful  money  in  satisfaction  of  contracts 
entered  into  before  the  Act  wras  passed.  The  question,  Can 
Congress  make  such  notes  a  legal  tender  for  contracts  made 
after  the  passage  of  the  Act  ?  was  not  involved  in  the  case,  but 
it  was  very  clear  from  the  opinion  of  the  Court,  delivered  by 
the  Chief  Justice,  that  a  majority  of  the  justices  regarded  the 
Act  as  being  unconstitutional  in  its  application  to  contracts 
made  after  as  well  as  to  those  made  before  the  Act  was  passed. 
Upon  the  question  before  the  Court,  the  justices  were  divided 
in  opinion,  five,  including  the  Chief  Justice,  agreeing  that  the 
Act  was  invalid  to  the  extent  that  it  made  the  notes  a  legal 
tender  on  contracts  executed  prior  to  its  enactment,  three 
being  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  valid.  Against  the  constitu 
tionality  of  the  Act,  in  its  application  to  the  case  under  consid 
eration,  were  the  Chief  Justice  and  Justices  Nelson,  Grier, 
Clifford  and  Field ;  in  favor  of  its  constitutionality  were  Jus 
tices  Miller,  Swayne  and  Davis.  The  opinion  of  the  dissent- 


THE   LEGAL   TENDER   ACTS.  173 

ing  justices  was  delivered  by  Justice  Miller.  This  decision 
Avas  unfavorably  received  by  the  Administration,  and  it  was 
especially  offensive  to  the  great  railroad  companies  whose  bonds 
were  executed  prior  to  February  25,  1862,  inasmuch  as  it 
made  the  interest  and  principal  of  their  bonds  payable  in  coin. 
The  second  Legal  Tender  case  (Knox  v.  Lee,  and  Parker  v. 
Davis),  was  decided  in  December,  1STO,  the  Court  then  con 
sisting  of  nine  judges ;  the  place  of  Judge  Grier,  who  had 
resigned,  having  been  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Judge 
Strong,  and  Judge  Bradley  having  been  appointed  under 
an  act  which  took  effect  in  December,  1869,  increasing 
the  number  of  justices  to  nine.  It  was  no  secret,  indeed 
it  was  a  matter  of  public  notoriety,  that  these  justices 
were  appointed  in  order  that  the  decision  of  1869  might 
be  reversed.  No  one  who  knew  them  doubted  their  integ 
rity  or  ability — their  perfect  fitness  for  the  places  they 
were  called  to  fill ;  but  their  opinions  in  regard  to  the 
constitutionality  of  the  Legal  Tender  Acts,  had  been  clearly 
and  publicly  expressed,  and  to  this  fact  their  appointment  was 
attributed.  It  was  therefore  pretty  well  known  what  the 
decision  would  be  when  the  question  was  again  presented.  It 
was  understood  that  no  change  had  taken  place  in  the  opinions 
of  the  justices  who  were  upon  the  bench  when  the  first  Legal 
Tender  case  was  decided,  and  still  remained  upon  it ;  that 
Messrs.  Swayne,  Davis  and  Miller,  would  adhere  to  the  opinion 
expressed  in  that  case,  and  that  with  Justices  Strong  and 
Bradley,  the  Court  would  stand  five  in  support  of  the  Act  and 
four  against  it.  By  a  majority  of  the  Court,  five  to  four,  the 
judgment  rendered  a  year  before  was  reversed,  and  an  Act  of 
Congress,  making  the  depreciated  notes  a  legal  tender  in  pay 
ment  of  pre-existing  contracts  was  declared  to  be  constitu 
tional  ;  that  creditors  were  bound  to  receive  on  contracts  call 
ing  for  dollars,  the  notes  of  the  Government  promising  to  pay 
dollars,  but  on  which  dollars  could  not  be  obtained.  This 
judgment  of  the  court  established  the  validity  of  the  Legal 


174  MEN    AND    MEASUEES    OF    HALF   A    CENTURY. 

Tender  Acts,  on  the  ground  chiefly  that  Congress  regarded 
them  as  a  necessary  means  of  preserving  the  Government  in  a 
period  of  extraordinary  emergency.  It  did  not  settle  the 
question  as  to  the  authority  of  Congress  to  make  Government 
notes  lawful  money,  when  no  emergency  existed,  in  a  time  of 
peace  and  general  prosperity.  The  argument  of  Justice  Strong, 
in  expressing  the  opinion  of  the  Court  in  the  second  Legal  Ten 
der  case,  was  based  upon  what  was  considered  a  fact,  that  the 
acts  were  necessary  so  save  the  country  from  ruin.  His  lan 
guage  on  this  point  was  this : 

"  "We  do  not  propose  to  dilate  at  length  upon  the  circum 
stances  in  which  the  country  was  placed  when  Congress 
attempted  to  make  treasury  notes  a  legal  tender.  They  are 
of  too  recent  occurrence  to  justify  enlarged  description. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  a  civil  wrar  was  then  raging,  which 
seriously  threatened  the  overthrow  of  the  Government,  and 
even  the  Constitution  itself.  It  demanded  the  equipment  and 
support  of  large  armies  and  navies,  and  the  employment  of 
money  to  an  extent  beyond  the  capacity  of  all  ordinary 
sources  of  supply.  Meanwhile  the  public  treasury  was  nearly 
empty,  and  the  credit  of  the  Government,  if  not  stretched  to 
its  utmost  tension,  had  become  nearly  exhausted.  Moneyed 
institutions  had  advanced  largely  of  their  means,  and  more 
could  not  be  expected  of  them.  They  had  been  compelled  to 
suspend  specie  payments.  Taxation  was  inadequate  to  pay 
even  the  interest  on  the  debt  already  incurred,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  await  the  income  of  additional  taxes.  The 
necessity  was  immediate  and  pressing.  The  army  was  unpaid. 
There  was  then  due  to  the  soldiers  in  the  field  nearly  a  score 
of  millions  of  dollars.  The  requisitions  from  the  War  and 
Navy  departments  for  supplies  exceeded  fifty  millions,  and 
the  current  expenditure  was  over  one  million  per  day.  The 
entire  amount  of  coin  in  the  country,  including  that  in  private 
hands  as  well  as  that  in  banking  institutions,  was  insufficient 
to  supply  the  need  of  the  Government  three  months,  had  it 
all  been  poured  into  the  Treasury.  Foreign  credit  we  had 
none.  We  say  nothing  of  the  overhanging  paralysis  of  trade, 
and  of  business  generally,  which  threatened  loss  of  confidence 
in  the  ability  of  the  Government  to  maintain  its  continued 
existence,  and  therefore  the  complete  destruction  of  all  remain 
ing  national  credit. 


JUSTICE  STRONG'S  ERROR.  175 

''  It  was  at  such  a  time  and  in  such  circumstances  that  Con 
gress  was  called  upon  to  device  means  for  maintaining  the 
army  and  navy,  for  securing  the  large  supplies  of  money 
needed  for  the  preservation  of  the  Government  created  by 
the  Constitution.  It  was  at  such  a  time  and  in  such  an  emer 
gency  that  the  Legal  Tender  Acts  were  passed.  Xow.  if  it 
were"  certain  that  nothing  else  would  have  supplied  the  abso 
lute  necessities  of  the' Treasury,  that  nothing  else  would  have 
enabled  the  Government  to  maintain  its  armies  and  navy,  that 
nothing  else  would  have  saved  the  Government  and  the  Con 
stitution  from  destruction,  while  the  Legal  Tender  Acts  would, 
could  any  one  be  bold  enough  to  assert  that  Congress  trans 
gressed  its  powers  ?  Or,  if  these  enactments  did  not  work 
these  results,  can  it  be  maintained  now  that  they  were  not  for 
a  legitimate  end,  or  appropriate  and  adapted  to  that  end — in 
the  language  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall '?  That  they  did  work 
such  results  is  not  to  be  doubted.  Something  revived  the 
drooping  faith  of  the  people ;  something  brought  immediately 
to  the  Government's  aid  the  resources  of  the  nation,  and 
something  enabled  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  war.  and 
the  preservation  of  the  national  life.  What  was  it,  if  not  the 
Legal  Tender  enactments  ?  " 

In  all  this,  Justice  Strong  was  undoubtedly  wrong.  The 
quality  of  legal  tender  which  was  given  to  the  notes  was  not 
necessary  to  make  them  current.  It  added  nothing  to  their 
real  value.  They  would  have  circulated  just  as  freely  and 
performed  all  the  service  for  which  they  were  issued  as  well 
without  the  legal  tender  quality  as  with  it.  The  confidence  of 
the  people  in  these  notes  depended  not  upon  their  being 
declared  to  be  lawful  money,  but  upon  the  ability  of  the 
Government  to  redeem  them.  Their  market  value  rose  and 
fell  with  the  successes  or  reverses  of  the  Federal  armies.  As 
the  amount  of  issue  was  limited,  and  as  the  notes  were  receiv 
able  for  Government  loans  and  in  payment  of  all  Government 
dues  except  import  duties,  it  was  a  matter  of  surprise  that 
they  went  as  low  as  they  did.  In  making  them  a  legal 
tender,  Congress  followed  bad  examples.  It  was  just  as 
powerless  to  make  them  the  equivalent  of  real  money  by 
declaring  them  to  be  a  legal  tender,  as  was  the  Continental 


176  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

Congress  to  give  to  the  Continental  notes,  and  the  French 
Government  to  give  to  assignats,  intrinsic  and  reliable  value. 
The  lowest  point  to  which  the  Legal  Tender  notes  fell,  was 
when  Congress,  in  order  to  appreciate  them,  attempted  to  pre 
vent  dealings  in  gold  in  the  public  exchanges,  by  the  passage 
of  the  gold  bill  (July,  1864).  It  was  then,  if  I  rightly  recol 
lect,  that  one  hundred  dollars  in  gold  was  equal  in  the  New 
York  Stock  and  Gold  exchanges,  to  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  dollars  of  Legal  Tender  notes.  Nothing  ought  to  have 
been  clearer  from  the  result  of  similar  experiments  than  that 
governments  are  absolutely  impotent  to  give  anything  more 
than  a  limited  and  artificial  value  to  notes  that  are  not  con 
vertible  into  coin.  According  to  the  opinion  of  the  Court,  as 
expressed  by  Justice  Strong  :  "  It  is  hardly  correct  to  speak 
of  a  standard  of  value  when  that  value  is  an  ideal  thing."  If 
this  is  true,  then  nations  have  been  in  error  from  the  very  com 
mencement  of  commerce  and  trade.  From  the  earliest  period 
of  which  there  is  any  record,  gold  and  silver  have  been  used  as 
a  measure  of  value,  and  a  measure  of  value  is  necessarily  a 
standard.  These  metals  were  selected  because  they  were  the 
only  metals  fitted  for  current  use  as  money.  They  are,  in 
fact,  the  only  metals  which  suffer  but  very  little  from 
abrasion,  which  can  be  changed  from  bullion  to  coin,  and  from 
coin  to  bullion  again,  without  perceptible  loss.  Besides,  the 
supply  always  has  been  and  is  quite  sure  of  continuing  to  be 
limited,  and  the  cost  of  obtaining  them  equal  to,  if  not  greater 
than,  the  value  fixed  upon  them  when  coined.  It  is  true  that 
neither  gold  nor  silver  was  coined  until  a  comparatively  recent 
period,  but  they  had  been  used  as  a  measure  of  value  centuries 
before,  and  this  is  an  evidence  of  their  intrinsic  value.  In  all 
but  the  simplest  trade,  carried  on  by  an  exchange  of  one 
article  of  use  for  another,  a  standard  of  value  was  needed. 
This  standard  was  found  in  the  precious  metals  gold  and 
silver,  and  they  will  continue  to  be  the  standard  until  some 
thing  is  discovered  better  fitted  in  all  respects  for  the  uses  to 


THE   FAR-REACHING   THIRD   DECISION.  177 

which  they  have  been  applied.  The  United  States  notes  were 
needed  at  the  time  they  were  issued.  The  mistake  was  in 
clothing  them  with  the  attributes  of  real  money.  By  their 
being  made  a  legal  tender,  they  enabled,  most  unjustly,  debt 
ors  to  use  them  in  discharge  of  obligations  executed  when 
coin  was  the  only  standard,  but  their  value  was  not  enhanced 
by  it.  Their  real  value  depended,  not  upon  their  being  de 
clared  to  be  lawful  money,  but,  as  I  have  said,  upon  their  being 
receivable  for  Government  loans  and  public  dues,  and  the  abil 
ity  and  disposition  of  the  Government  to  redeem  them  in  coin. 
By  the  decision  in  the  second  Legal  Tender  case,  the  decis 
ion  of  the  Court  in  the  first  case  \vas  reversed,  and  the  doc 
trine  established  that  at  a  time  of  great  emergency,  when  the 
Government  was  engaged  in  a  gigantic  war  for  the  mainte 
nance  of  its  authority,  and  was  in  imminent  danger  of  being  over 
thrown,  it  was  proper  for  Congress  to  do  whatever  was  deemed 
to  be  necessary  and  not  absolutely  prohibited  by  the  Consti 
tution,  for  its  preservation,  and  that,  as  the  Legal  Tender  acts 
were  passed  at  such  a  period  and  for  such  a  purpose,  they  were 
not  unconstitutional.  The  question,  therefore,  of  the  author 
ity  of  Congress  to  make  Government  notes,  issued  or  reissued 
in  a  time  of  peace,  and  when  the  national  authority  was  estab 
lished  throughout  the  country,  a  legal  tender,  was  regarded  as 
being  an  open  one.  In  the  third  Legal  Tender  case,  that  ques 
tion,  the  most  important  in  its  far-reaching  character  and  its 
bearings  upon  the  nature  of  the  Federal  Government  that  had 
ever  been  presented  to  the  Court,  was  definitely  decided.  Mi1. 
Justice  Gray,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  Court,  said :  "  The 
simple  question  to  be  considered  is,  whether  United  States 
notes,  issued  in  a  time  of  war,  under  acts  of  Congress  declar 
ing  them  to  be  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  private  debts,  and 
afterwards  in  a  time  of  peace  re-issued,  can,  under  the  Consti 
tution,  be  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  such  debts."  This 
question,  Justice  Field  alone  dissenting,  was  decided  in  the 
affirmative,  and  this  decision  covered  the  whole  ground  of 
12 


178  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTUKY. 

controversy  between  those  who  were  of  the  opinion  that  Con 
gress  possessed  no  power  not  expressly  granted  by  the  Consti 
tution,  or  necessary  to  render  effective  the  power  that  was 
thus  granted,  and  those  who  were  of  the  opinion  that  all 
power  not  absolutely  prohibited,  belonged  to  Congress,  to  be 
exercised  whenever  a  majority  of  both  branches  and  the  Presi 
dent  should  consider  the  exercise  of  it  necessary  or  expedient : 
between  those  who  thought  that  Congress  possessed  no  power 
not  expressly  granted,  and  those  who  thought  that  Congress 
possessed  all  power  not  expressly  prohibited  by  the  Consti 
tution. 

One  of  the  most  singular  things  in  the  trial  of  these  Legal 
Tender  cases  was  the  fact  that  the  attorneys  in  their  argu 
ments,  and  the  judges  in  their  opinions,  referred  to  the  decis 
ion  pronounced  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  in  the  celebrated 
case  of  McCulloch  v.  The  State  of  Maryland — a  decision  not 
more  remarkable  for  the  ability  which  it  displayed,  than  for 
the  clearness  and  precision  of  its  language — for  the  support  of 
antagonistic  and  irreconcilable  doctrines.  The  decision  of  the 
Court  in  this  last  case  was  a  surprise  to  the  country.  It  estab 
lished  the  authority  of  Congress,  in  times  of  peace  as  well  as  in 
times  of  war — whether  the  treasury  is  full  or  empty — to  make 
United  States  notes  a  legal  tender  for  the  payment  of  private 
debts,  no  matter  how  large  the  issue  or  how  small  their 
value  when  measured  by  coin.  It  was  admitted  that  no  such 
power  was  distinctly  conferred  by  the  Constitution,  and  it  was 
not  contended  that  this  power  was  necessary  for  the  exe 
cution  of  what  was  expressly  given.  The  power  expressly 
granted  to  Congress  was  to  coin  money,  and  regulate  the  value 
thereof,  and  of  foreign  coins.  The  power  to  make  Government 
notes  a  legal  tender  was  certainly  not  inferable  from  the 
power  to  coin  money,  and  hence  the  Court,  in  deciding  that 
the  Legal  Tender  Acts  were  not  unconstitutional,  was  com 
pelled  to  take  the  ground  that  the  United  States  was  a  nation 
with  powers  limited  only  by  the  language  of  the  Constitution ; 


WHAT   GIVES    PAPER   MONEY   VALUE.  179 

that  what  the  Constitution  did  not  absolutely  forbid,  Congress 
might  lawfully  do  ;  that  the  power  to  make  United  States 
notes  a  legal  tender  grew  out  of  the  national  sovereignty  insti 
tuted  by  the  Constitution.  It  is  not  for  me  to  criticise  the 
judgment  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  whose 
learning,  wisdom  and  uprightness  I  have  profound  respect. 
This  much  it  is  proper,  however,  for  me  to  say,  as  it  is  obvious 
to  everybody,  that  this  decision  relieves  Congress  from  what 
have  heretofore  been  considered  well  defined  restrictions,  and 
clothes  a  republican  government  with  imperial  power. 

There  is,  however,  a  higher  power  than  imperial  po\ver 
which  controls  the  value  of  paper  money.  It  may  be  made  a 
legal  tender,  and  the  people  may  be  compelled  to  use  it  as 
money,  but  its  real  value  depends  upon  the  relation  which  it 
bears  to  coin.  Unless  convertible,  depreciation  cannot  be  pre 
vented  by  acts  of  Congress,  and  the  extent  of  its  depreciation 
will  depend  upon  the  amount  in  circulation,  and  the  financial 
condition  of  the  country.  There  is  no  real  money  but  gold 
and  silver.  It  is  unfortunate  that  this  fact  was  not  appre 
ciated  when  the  Legal  Tender  Acts  were  passed.  By  the  Con 
stitution,  u  the  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States, 
nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States 
respectively,  or  to  the  people."  This  clear  and  unmistakable 
restriction  of  the  powers  of  Congress  would  not  have  been  dis 
regarded  had  not  the  Government  been  engaged  in  a  terrih'c 
struggle  for  its  existence.  No  prominent  man  when  they  were 
passed  thought  that  the  Legal  Tender  Acts  were  constitu 
tional.  The  simple  fact  that  the  authority  of  Congress  to 
provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  was  limited  to 
"  the  counterfeiting  of  the  securities  and  current  coin  of  the 
United  States,"  makes  it  clear  to  ordinary  comprehensions 
that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  did  not  contemplate  the 
issue  of  notes  as  money. 

I  have  said  that  Mr.  Chase  has  been  known  as  the  father 
of  the  greenbacks  (the  United  States  legal  tender  notes).  It  is 


180  MEN  AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

true  that  when  these  notes  became  a  very  popular  currency, 
and  he  was  aspiring  to  the  Presidency,  he  was  quite  willing  to 
acknowledge  his  paternity ;  but  the  great  scheme  upon  which 
he  desired  that  his  financial  reputation  should  rest  was  the 
national  banking  system.  That  this  system  has  been  of  ines 
timable  benefit  to  the  country,  all  who  have  knowledge  of  the 
systems  which  it  superseded  unhesitatingly  admit.  It  is  a  sys 
tem  that  ought  to  be  perpetuated,  although  its  perpetuation 
will  require  the  continued  existence  of  a  part  of  our  national 
debt.  With  the  opinions  which  I  entertain  in  regard  to  this 
debt,  I  can  say  nothing  stronger  in  its  behalf. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Salmon  P.  Chase— Entitled  to  the  Gratitude  of  his  Countrymen  for  Services 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury— Condition  of  the  Treasury  when  he 
Entered  It — His  Two  Mistakes — His  Ambition  to  be  Chief  Justice— Not 
Satisfied  after  his  Ambition  had  been  Gratified — Abraham  Lincoln— His 
Educational  Advantages— His  Knowledge  of  Men  and  his  Far-seeing 
Wisdom — William  P.  Fessenden — His  Administration  of  the  Treasury— 
His  Statesmanship — Am  Appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — Thurlow 
Weed's  Agency  in  the  Appointment — Extracts  from  my  Advice  to 
National  Banks  when  Comptroller  of  the  Currency— Extracts  from  my 
Speech  at  Fort  Wayne  in  October,  1865— My  Opinions  of  the  National 
Debt. 


M 


R.  CHASE  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  that 
our  country  has  produced.  In  1837  he  was  pointed  out 
to  me  in  the  Cincinnati  court-house  as  the  rising  young 
member  of  the  bar,  which  was  even  then  distinguished  by 
the  high  character  of  its  lawyers.  Had  he  continued  in  the 
practice,  he  would  have  been  the  peer  of  Henry  Stansbury  in 
legal  accomplishments,  and  have  come  up  to  the  standard  of 
Thomas  Ewing,  the  ablest  lawyer  who  has  appeared  west  of 
the  Alleghanies.  His  mind  was  clear  and  logical,  comprehen 
sive  in  its  grasp,  and  certain  in  its  conclusions.  lie  was  a  fine 
scholar,  a  master  of  the  English  tongue.  He  spoke  with  ease 
and  distinctness.  He  was  not  what  might  be  called  a  fluent, 
nor,  according  to  the  American  idea  (which  is  rapidly  chang 
ing)  an  eloquent  speaker ;  but  he  had  few  equals  in  analyzing 
difficult  questions  and  making  abstruse  subjects  intelligible. 
Inclined  to  be  dogmatic,  he  was  nevertheless  genial  in  social 
intercourse,  and  at  times  fascinating.  In  manners  he  was 
courtly  without  assumption ;  in  opinion,  tenacious  without 
intolerance.  He  was  strong  in  his  convictions,  and  steadfast 
in  his  principles.  Hostile  to  slavery,  and  a  strict  construe- 


182     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

tionist,  lie  was  willing  to  yield  to  the  slave  power  just  what 
was  granted  by  the  Constitution,  not  an  iota  more.  In 
his  opinion,  slavery  was  a  local  institution,  of  which  the 
States  in  which  it  existed  had  exclusive  control,  and  which 
Congress  had  .no  authority  to  extend  or  even  to  sanction. 
He  was,  therefore,  heartily  opposed  to  its  extension  into  the 
territories,  and  to  its  existence  in  any  part  of  the  public 
domain  ;  but  he  was  at  the  same  time  opposed  to  any  outside 
interference  with  it  in  the  slave-holding  States.  In  a  word, 
his  hatred  of  slavery  was  subordinated  to  his  reverence  for  the 
Constitution. 

The  movements  of  the  armies,  the  great  battles  that  were 
fought  with  varying  success  on  both  sides,  so  absorbed  the 
public  attention  that  comparatively  little  interest  was  felt  in 
the  measures  that  were  adopted  to  provide  the  means  to  meet 
the  enormous  and  daily  increasing  demands  upon  the  treas 
ury.  It  was  the  successful  general  who  was  the  recipient 
of  public  honors,  not  the  man  by  whose  agency  the  sinews 
of  war  were  supplied  ;  and  yet  but  for  the  successful 
administration  of  the  Treasury  Department  during  the  war, 
the  Union  would  have  been  riven  asunder.  If  I  were 
asked  to  designate  the  man  whose  services,  next  to  Mr.  Lin 
coln's,  were  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  country,  from 
March,  1861,  to  July,  1864-,  I  should  unhesitatingly  name 
Salmon  P.  Chase.  When  Mr.  Chase  was  appointed  Secretary, 
the  public  credit  was  lower  than  that  of  any  other  great 
nation.  The  treasury  was  empty.  The  annual  expenditures 
had  for  some  years  exceeded  the  revenues.  To  meet  the 
deficiencies,  shifts  were  resorted  to  which,  while  they  gave 
present  relief  to  the  treasury,  increased  its  embarrassment. 
To  show  how  low  the  public  credit  was  at  the  close  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  administration,  it  is  only  necessary  to  state  that 
u  in  December,  1860,  when  the  national  debt  was  less  than 
$65,000,000,  proposals  were  invited  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  for  $5,000,000  of  treasury  notes  (the  amount  re- 


THE   FINANCIAL    OUTLOOK   IX   1861.  183 

quired  to  meet  debts  falling  due  and  payable  on  the  1st  of 
January  following),  to  bear  such  rates  of  interest  as  might  be 
proposed  by  bidders  and  agreed  to  by  the  Secretary.  For 
these  notes,  bids  to  the  amount  of  $1,831,000,  at  twelve  per 
cent,  interest  were  accepted,  and  bids  for  $-4:05,000,  at  from 
fifteen  to  thirty -six  per  cent,  interest,  were  rejected.  Soon 
after  the  balance  of  this  loan  ($3,169,000)  was  taken  by  the 
Bank  of  Commerce,  Xew  York,  and  its  associates,  at  twelve 
per  cent,  interest.  Such  was  the  credit  of  the  Government 
when  the  country,  although  disturbed  by  the  threatened  seces 
sion  of  some  of  the  Southern  States,  was  in  an  unusually  pros 
perous  condition. 

In  February,  1861,  proposals  were  invited  for  twenty -year 
six  per  cent,  bonds.  Offers  for  these  to  the  amount  of 
$8,006,000,  at  ninety  per  cent,  were  accepted,  and  offers 
for  $6,454,250,  at  a  lower  rate  than  ninety,  were  rejected. 
In  March  following,  proposals  were  invited  for  more  of 
the  same  kind  of  bonds,  for  which  offers  to  the  amount  of 
$3,099,000,  at  ninety-four  per  cent.,  and  upwards  were  accepted, 
(there  were  but  three  bids,  amounting  to  $21,000,  above  ninety- 
four),  and  offers  for  $23,983,000.  at  less  than  ninety-four  were 
rejected.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the  treasury  when  Mr. 
Chase  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  A  more  dis 
couraging  financial  outlook  can  hardly  be  imagined.  The 
Government  was  without  credit — the  treasury  without  money. 
Eight  States  had  adopted  ordinances  to  dissolve  their  connec 
tion  with  the  Union  ;  three  others  were  quite  sure  to  follow 
their  example — the  loyalty  of  Maryland,  Missouri  and  Ken 
tucky  was  questionable — and  war  clouds  were  gathering  all 
along  the  southern  horizon.  It  was  obvious,  if  war  should 
occur,  that  no  money  could  be  borrowed  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  The  tone  of  the  European,  and  especially  the 
English  press,  which  with  a  single  exception  was  in  sympathy 
with  the  South,  left  no  room  for  doubt  on  this  point.  It  was 
openly  hostile  to  the  North,  and  this  hostility  never  ceased 


184  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF   A    CENTURY. 

until  the  war  was  ended.  When  the  United  States  notes, 
with  which  the  six  per  cent,  bonds  could  be  obtained  at 
par,  were  greatly  depreciated,  German  capitalists  purchased 
freely,  and  thereby  relieved  to  some  extent,  the  home  market, 
but  not  a  bond  could  be  sold  in  either  the  English  or  French 
markets.  Mr.  Chase  perceived,  upon  entering  upon  the  dis 
charge  of  his  duties,  that  the  home  market  was  the  only  one 
in  which  the  United  States  securities  could  be  disposed  of — 
that  to  the  people  of  the  loyal  States  he  must  look  for  the  sup 
port  of  the  treasury. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  speak  of  the  various  loans  that 
were  negotiated,  and  the  taxes  that  were  imposed  to  raise  the 
immense  sums  that  were  needed  in  the  prosecution  of  the  most 
expensive  war  that  the  world  has  ever  known.  It  is  enough 
for  me  merely  to  refer  to  the  extraordinary  fact  that  the 
people  were  patient  under  very  burdensome  taxes,  taxes  to 
which  they  were  entirely  unaccustomed,  taxes  direct  and 
indirect,  taxes  upon  almost  everything  that  they  consumed, 
taxes  which  before  the  war  it  would  have  been  considered 
impossible  to  collect;  and  to  the  still  more  extraordinary 
fact  that  the  public  credit  steadily  improved,  notwithstand 
ing  the  rapid  increase  of  the  public  debt,  and  was  higher  when 
it  reached  the  enormous  sum  of  $2,757,803,686,  as  it  did  in 
August,  1865,  than  it  was  when  the  Government  did  not  owe 
a  dollar.  Not  alone  to  Mr.  Chase  is  the  honor  due  for  the 
financial  success  of  the  Government  in  its  desperate  struggle 
for  the  maintenance  of  its  integrity,  but  a  very  large  share  of 
it  certainly  belongs  to  him.  It  was  by  his  advice  that  taxes 
were  imposed  and  loans  were  authorized.  It  was  by  him  that 
the  most  important  negotiations  were  accomplished,  and  it 
was  in  accordance  with  his  general  financial  policy  that  the 
Department  Avas  administered  after  his  resignation.  He  was 
the  manager  of  the  finances  from  March,  1861,  to  July,  186-i, 
and  by  their  successful  management  during  that  gloomy  and 
momentous  period,  he  established  a  lasting  claim  upon  the 


MR.  CHASE'S  GREAT  SERVICES.  185 

respect  and  gratitude  of  his  countrymen.  To  him,  more  than 
to  any  other  single  man,  always  excepting  Abraham  Lincoln, 
are  they  indebted  for  the  preservation  of  the  national  unity. 
To  the  worshippers  of  our  great  military  captains,  this  may 
seem  absurd,  but  not  to  those  who  comprehend  the  difficulties 
which  Mr.  Chase  encountered  in  building  up  the  national 
credit,  which  had  been  broken  down  by  the  bad  management 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  next  preceding  admin 
istration,  and  in  improving  it  when  the  national  unity  was  in 
peril.  Prior  to  becoming  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr. 
Chase  had  had  no  financial  experience.  lie  was  not  a  financier, 
but  he  had  the  qualities  that  were  needed  in  the  head  of  the 
Treasury  Department  at  that  particular  time.  He  was  clear 
headed,  self-possessed,  self-confident,  patriotic,  hopeful,  bold, 
and  he  succeeded  when  trained  financiers,  Avho  are  usually  con 
servative  and  cautious,  would  have  failed.  Nor  was  he  lack 
ing  in  executive  ability.  The  Treasury  Department  in  1861 
was  not  larger  in  working  force  than  one  of  its  present 
bureaus.  It  became  in  less  than  four  years  the  largest  finan 
cial  department  in  the  world.  Its  clerical  force  during  that 
period  was  increased  ten-fold,  and  consequently  a  large  part  of 
its  important  work  was  performed  by  inexperienced  hands, 
and  vet  there  was  no  confusion,  and  no  irregularities  that  were 

•/  O 

not  speedily  corrected.  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say  that 
there  was  really  more  hard  and  difficult  work  done  in  a  single 
year  in  a  single  bureau — the  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue  (for 
the  admirable  organization  of  which  the  country  is  indebted 
to  George  S.  Boutwell) — than  was  done  in  the  whole  Depart 
ment  from  the  establishment  of  the  Government  up  to  1861. 

That  Mr.  Chase  made  some  mistakes,  is  admitted  by  his 
warmest  friends — if  he  had  not,  he  would  have  been  more 
than  mortal.  lie  was  called  upon  to  perform  duties  of  the 
highest  importance  to  his  country — duties  to  which  he  was 
entirely  unaccustomed,  and  for  the  performance  of  which  he 
had  no  opportunity  for  preparation.  His  work  was  gigantic, 


186  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

and  even  the  most  critical  were  compelled  to  acknowledge 
that  on  the  Avhole  it  was  done  well.  Two  mistakes  he  admit 
ted — one,  in  consenting  that  the  United  States  notes  should 
be  made  a  legal  tender ;  the  other,  in  advising  the  repeal  of  the 
clause  in  the  first  Legal  Tender  act,  which  made  the  notes 
convertible  into  bonds.  His  friends  were  forced  to  admit  that 
he  made  two  mistakes  of  a  different  character — one  in  permit 
ting  his  name  to  be  used  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency 
while  he  was  a  member  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet;  the  other,  in 
resigning  when  his  services  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasurv  were 

O  O  *,  •/ 

greatly  needed.  The  acknowledged  cause  of  his  resignation 
was  a  disagreement  between  the  President  and  himself  in 
regard  to  the  appointment  of  a  successor  to  Mr.  Cisco  in  the 
office  of  Assistant  Treasurer  at  New  York.  The  real  cause 
was  the  interruption  of  their  pleasant  relations  by  political 
rivalry.  Mr.  Chase's  resignation  was  promptly  accepted — I 
think  to  his  surprise,  I  am  sure  to  his  lasting  regret.  His 
place  in  public  estimation  would  have  been  higher,  and  he 
would  have  been  a  much  happier  man,  if,  instead  of  desiring  to 
be  President,  and  permitting  his  name  to  be  used  in  opposition 
to  that  of  his  chief,  he  had  been  content  to  remain  at  the 
head  of  the  Treasury  Department  until  the  work  which  he  had 
undertaken  amid  great  discouragements,  and  had  prosecuted 
with  so  much  vigor  and  boldness,  had  been  completed. 

Nothing  is  so  captivating  and  yet  so  dangerous,  to  our  pub 
lic  men,  as  the  whisperings  of  the  siren,  exciting  aspirations 
for  the  Presidency  which  are  never  realized  and  which  never 
die.  In  a  conversation  which  I  had  with  Mr.  Chase,  in  1863, 
he  remarked  that  there  was  only  one  office  which  he  had 
heartily  desired— the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  I  dined  with  him  a  couple  of  weeks  after  the  coveted 
honor  had  been  conferred  upon  him,  and  I  was  pained  by  dis 
covering  that  he  was  far  from  being  satisfied.  As  a  justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  he  had  no  favors  to  grant,  no  patronage 
to  wield.  High  as  the  position  was,  it  was  not  the  one  to 


MR.    CHASE   AS    CHIEF   JUSTICE.  187 

which  he  had  really  aspired.  To  him  it  seemed  like  retirement 
from  public  life.  There  was  another  thing  that  was  undoubt 
edly  weighing  upon  him,  although  he  did  not  suggest  it.  lie 
had  not  been  in  the  active  practice  of  the  law  for  twenty 
years,  nor  had  he  been  able  during  that  period  to  devote  any 
time  to  legal  studies.  As  an  active  politician,  the  leader  of  the 
Anti-Slavery  party  in  Ohio,  as  Governor,  United  States  Sen 
ator,  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  he  had  been  otherwise 
fully  employed ;  so  that  when  he  went  upon  the  bench  he 
was  unfamiliar  with  the  work  which  he  was  called  upon  to 
perform.  He  perceived,  therefore,  that  unless  he  shrank  from 
his  proper  share  of  the  duties  of  the  Court  (and  that  he  was 
not  disposed  to  do),  he  would  for  a  time  labor  under  great  dis 
advantages.  He  did  have  to  work  much  harder  in  the  inves 
tigation  of  legal  questions,  and  in  the  preparation  of  opinions, 
than  any  of  his  associates.  It  was  undoubtedly  this  hard 
work  and  the  disappointment  of  his  political  ambition  that 
shortened  his  life. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  high  appreciation  of  Mr.  Chase's  ability  and 
character  was  exhibited  by  his  appointing  him  to  be  Chief 
Justice.  He  hesitated  for  some  days,  while  the  matter  was 
under  consideration,  to  send  his  name  to  the  Senate,  under  the 
apprehension  that  he  might  be  somewhat  rigorous  in  his  judg 
ment  of  some  of  the  executive  acts,  and  especially  those  of  the 
Secretary  of  War,  if  suit  should  be  brought  involving  questions 
that  could  only  be  settled  by  the  Supreme  Court.  Knowing 
that  my  relations  with  Mr.  Chase  were  intimate,  he  sent  for 
me  one  day,  and  after  explaining  the  nature  of  his  fears,  asked 
me  what  I  thought  about  them.  "Why,  Mr.  President,"  I 
replied,  "  you  have  no  reason  for  fears  on  that  score.  Mr. 
Chase  is  in  the  same  box  with  yourself  and  Mr.  Stanton.  He 
favored  and  advised,  as  he  has  himself  informed  me,  the  dis 
persion  by  force  of  the  Maryland  Legislature,  and  if  anything 
more  illegal  than  that  would  have  been  has  been  done,  I  have 
not  heard  of  it."  The  President  did  not  say  that  that 


188  MEX   AXD    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

reminded  him  of  a  story,  but  he  laughed  heartily  and  the 
interview  was  ended.  It  may  be  proper  for  me  to  remark 
here,  that  the  personal  relations  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr. 
Chase  Avere  never  cordial.  They  were  about  as  unlike  in 
appearance,  in  education,  in  manners,  in  taste,  and  in  temper 
ament,  as  two  eminent  men  could  be.  Mr.  Chase  had  received 
a  classical  education,  and  until  he  entered  the  political  field 
and  became  the  leader  of  the  Anti-Slavery  party  of  Ohio,  he 
had  been  a  student  of  general  literature ;  in  appearance  he  was 
impressive,  in  manner  stately,  in  taste  refined,  in  tempera 
ment  cold.  Although  the  larger  part  of  his  early  life  was 
passed  in  the  West,  he  was  not  "  Westernized."  He  cracked 
no  jokes,  and  he  had  no  aptitude  for  story-telling.  He  did 
not  and  could  not  appreciate  those  qualities  which  brought 
Mr.  Lincoln  so  close  to  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Self-reliant, 
rapid  in  conclusions,  and  prompt  in  action,  he  would  not,  had 
he  been  President  in  the  spring  of  1861,  have  waited  for 
South  Carolina  to  strike  the  first  blow ;  it  was  therefore  for 
tunate  that  he  was  not  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  place. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  no  educational  advantages  in  his  early 
life.  In  appearance  he  was  unprepossessing,  in  manners 
ungraceful,  in  taste  unrefined,  or  at  least  peculiar,  but  he  was 
warm-hearted  and  genial.  In  knowledge  of  men,  in  strong 
common  sense,  in  sound  judgment,  in  sagacity,  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  no  superior.  He  was  unassuming,  patient,  hopeful,  far-see 
ing.  He  was  also  one  of  the  bravest  of  men.  In  saying  this 
I  do  not  refer  to  personal  courage,  in  which  he  was  by  no 
means  deficient ;  but  to  bravery  of  a  higher  and  rarer  kind- 
bravery  which  was  steadfast  under  the  criticism  of  his  friends 
and  the  assaults  of  his  enemies.  His  inaction  for  some  weeks 
after  his  inauguration  greatly  disappointed  many  of  his  most 
devoted  political  adherents,  who  became  fearful  that  it  indi 
cated  indecision ;  and  the  feeling  became  widespread  that  he 
lacked  nerve — one  of  the  most  essential  qualities  in  a  states 
man  who  is  called  upon  to  act  when  danger  is  imminent  and 


LINCOLN'S  WISE  PATIENCE.  189 

great  interests  are  at  stake.  In  this  he  was  misjudged.  He 
was  anxious  to  prevent  a  decided  rupture  of  the  relations  of 
the  Government  with  the  Southern  States,  and  lie  was  deter 
mined  if  a  rupture  should  occur  that  the  Administration  should 
not  be  responsible  for  it.  It  was  his  duty  to  enforce  obedience 
to  the  federal  authority  throughout  the  Union,  but  he  hoped 
that  this  might  be  accomplished  in  the  Southern  States  with 
out  a  resort  to  arms,  lie  knew  how  strong  the  opposition 
was  in  the  West  to  what  was  called  coercion — the  coercion  of 
sovereign  States,  and  he  foresaw  that  if  a  conflict  should  occur, 
and  the  Government  should  be  regarded  as  the  aggressor,  it 
would  fail  to  command  hearty  support  in  that  section,  and 
how  important  it  therefore  was,  if  war  was  to  be  the  result  of 
attempts  to  execute  the  law,  that  the  first  blow  should  not  be 
struck  by  the  Government.  His  wisdom  was  vindicated  by 
the  manner  in  which  the  report  of  the  cannonade  upon  Fort 
Surater  was  received  throughout  the  loyal  States.  It  was,  as 
I  have  remarked,  like  an  electric  shock  to  a  body  seemingly 
inanimate,  but  which  was  full  of  life.  It  vitalized  the  dormant 
patriotism  of  the  people,  it  hushed  party  strife,  it  united  Repub 
licans  and  Democrats  in  a  common  cause — the  defence  of  the 
Union.  Thenceforward,  many  who  had  been  the  opponents  of 
coercion  were  its  strongest  advocates.  Some  of  them  attained 
high  distinction  in  the  field. 

Throughout  his  administration  Mr.  Lincoln  was  wiser  than 
his  assailants,  wiser  than  his  friends.  Beside  the  attacks  of  his 
political  enemies,  to  which  he  was  indifferent,  he  was  con 
stantly  charged,  by  those  who  claimed  to  be  friendly,  with 
hesitation,  when  hesitation  was  dangerous.  They  were,  for 
instance,  impatient  at  his  tardiness  in  using  his  war  power  to 
free  the  slaves,  and  they  censured  him  without  stint.  He  was 
troubled  by  this  censure,  but  his  purposes  were  not  shaken 
bv  it.  Although  one  of  the  mildest  of  men,  he  was 
unviekling'  to  efforts  which  were  made  to  force  him  to  acts 

«.'  O 

which  he  considered  erroneous  in  themselves,  or  erroneous  be- 


190     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

cause  untimely.  His  aim  was  to  keep  abreast  with  the  public 
sentiment,  with  which  no  man  was  better  acquainted,  and  not 
to  go  too  fast  to  avoid  the  charge  of  going  too  slow.  He 
issued  his  celebrated  Emancipation  Proclamation  when  he 
thought  the  people  were  prepared  for  it,  and  when  the  mili 
tary  condition  of  the  country  seemed  to  justify  it.  It  came  at 
the  right  time  ;  it  breathed  the  right  spirit,  and  it  was  hailed 
with  almost  universal  satisfaction  in  all  the  loyal  States.  I 
never  think  of  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  performed 
the  most  difficult  and  responsible  duties  which  ever  devolved 
upon  mortal  man ;  of  the  enormous  labors  which  he  per 
formed  ;  of  his  faith  in  the  right,  his  constancy,  his  hopeful 
ness,  his  sagacity,  and  his  patience  under  unmerited  and 
bitter  criticism,  without  feelings  of  admiration  akin  to  rev 
erence. 

When  Mr.  Chase  resigned,  the  eyes  of  the  people  turned  to 
Mr.  Fessenden  as  the  right  man  to  be  his  successor.  Mr.  Fes- 
senden's  acknowledged  ability  and  high  character,  and  the 
financial  knowledge  which  he  had  displayed  as  Chairman  of 
the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Senate,  were  a  sufficient  guar 
anty  that  under  his  direction  the  business  of  the  Treasury 
Department  would  be  uprightly  and  ably  conducted.  He 
accepted  the  office  with  extreme  reluctance.  His  business  had 
been  to  assist  in  making  laws,  not  in  executing  them.  He  was 
distrustful  of  his  executive  ability.  The  duties  which  he  was 
required  to  perform  were  distasteful  to  him  from  the  start, 
and  the  longer  he  remained  in  office  the  more  distasteful  they 
became  to  him.  Besides,  he  was  not  physically  strong.  He 
was  disinclined,  therefore,  to  daily,  incessant  labor,  especially 
to  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  mere  drudgery.  Then,  too,  his 
desire  was  to  return  to  the  Senate,  and  he  was  afraid  that  in 
important  transactions  he  might  subject  himself  to  criticism 
which  would  prejudice  his  election.  He  knew,  for  instance, 
that  Mr.  Chase  had  been  sharply  criticised  for  employing  an 
agent  in  the  negotiation  of  loans,  and  so  instead  of  following 


WILLIAM    P.    FESSENDEN.  191 

Mr.  Chase's  example,  he  attempted  to  supply  the  treasury  with 
money  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  national  banks. 
He  addressed  a  circular  letter,  appealing  strongly  to  them  to 
subscribe  directly  and  liberally  for  the  seven-and-three-tenth 
notes,  and  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  dispose  of  them  to  their 
customers.  The  appeal  was  not  responded  to  as  he  hoped  and 
anticipated  that  it  would  be,  and  he  was  compelled,  after 
some  delay,  to  avail  himself  of  the  services  of  the  same  agent, 
Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  whom  Mr.  Chase  had  successfully  employed 
in  his  most  important  negotiations.  In  the  mean  time  the 
treasury  became  considerably  embarrassed  and  the  Govern 
ment  credit  impaired.  If  Mr.  Fessenden  had  been  strong  in 
health,  if  his  duties  had  been  congenial,  and  he  had  been  con 
tent  to  remain  at  the  head  of  the  great  department,  he  would 
have  been  equal  to  his  duties,  however  difficult  and  onerous 
they  might  have  been.  But  his  health  was  not  good,  and  his 
heart  was  not  in  executive,  but  in  legislative  work.  It  was 
as  a  Senator  that  he  had  achieved  renown.  It  was  in  the  Sen 
ate  chamber  that  he  was  at  home.  There,  in  extent  of 
knowledge,  in  command  of  language,  in  readiness  and  force  in 
debate,  he  had  no  equal.  Mr.  Douglas  was  frequently  com 
pared  with  him,  but  he  was  more  learned  than  Mr.  Douglas, 
closer  in  reasoning,  more  easily  followed,  more  accurate  in 
statements,  and  altogether  safer  as  a  leader. 

Mr.  Fessenden  was  one  of  the  very  few  men  of  his  day 
that  merited  the  name  of  statesman.  He  must  have  been  a 
hard  student  in  early  life  (he  was  not  subsequently),  or  great 
as  was  his  aptitude  for  learning,  he  would  not  have  possessed 
that  wealth  of  knowledge  which  he  frequently  displayed  in 
the  Senate  Chamber.  He  was  not  an  orator,  but  a  debater  of 
the  highest  order,  lucid,  cogent,  incisive.  He  did  not  regard 
the  halls  of  Congress  as  fit  places  for  oratorical  display,  for 
the  delivery  of  orations,  and  he  listened  impatiently,  when  he 
listened  at  all,  to  Mr.  Sumner's  which  had  been  prepared  with 
care  and  committed  to  memory.  He  was  disposed  to  under- 


192     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

rate  abilities  which  differed  from  his  own,  and  he  therefore 
underrated  those  of  Mr.  Sumner.  In  devotion  to  what  he 
considered  right,  he  was  as  inflexible  as  steel.  This  trait  of 
character  was  exhibited  in  the  impeachment  trial  of  President 
Johnson.  While  this  celebrated  trial  was  going  on,  he  received 
scores  of  letters  threatening  him  with  personal  violence — some 
of  them  with  death,  if  he  voted  for  acquittal,  but  they  did  not 
disturb  him  in  the  least.  Xo  one  knew  how  he  would  vote — 
he  did  not  know  himself  until  the  testimony  and  the  arguments 
on  both  sides  had  been  heard— but  it  was  well  known  that  he 
had  no  sympathy  with  those  who  had  determined  how  thev 
would  vote  before  the  trial  was  commenced  ;  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  pronounce  the  President  guilty  without  waiting  for 
the  evidence.  Hence  it  was  feared  that  his  vote  might  not  be 
unfavorable  to  the  President,  and  hence  the  threats.  Mr.  Fes- 
senden  said  to  me  as  much,  I  am  sure,  as  he  said  to  any  one, 
which  was  simply  this  :  That  he  should  listen  attentively  to  the 
testimony  and  to  the  arguments  of  counsel,  and  then,  and  not 
until  then,  make  up  his  mind  as  to  what  his  oath  and  his  duty 
required  of  him.  His  vote  and  the  votes  of  six  others,  from 
the  Republican  side  of  the  Senate,  with  the  Democratic 
votes,  saved  the  President  from  being  adjudged  a  criminal,  and 
the  Republican  party  from  disruption.  I  shall  say  something- 
more  about  this  trial  when  I  come  to  speak  of  Mr.  Johnson 
and  his  administration. 

For  some  years  before  his  death,  ill  health  prevented  Mr. 
Fessenden  from  participating  in  Washington  festivities,  and 
on  this  account  he  was  regarded  by  many  as  being  of  an 
unsocial  disposition.  In  this  he  was  misjudged.  Before  his 
health  became  impaired,  he  was  eminently  social ;  to  those 
who  were  intimate  with  him,  he  was  always  one  of  the 
most  affable  and  agreeable  of  men.  In  appearance  he  was 
attractive ;  his  face  was  handsome  and  strikingly  intellectual ; 
in  deportment  he  was  natural,  in  character  upright,  in  all 
business  transactions  honorable.  He  was  true  to  his  princi- 


SECRETARY    OF   THE   TREASURY.  198 

pies  and  to  his  friends,  never  unfaithful  to  the  former,  or  for 
getful  of  the  latter. 

A  day  or  two  after  his  second  inauguration,  Mr.  Lincoln 
requested  me,  by  one  of  his  messengers,  to  call  upon  him  at  the 
White  House  at  some  time  during  the  day,  which  I  did  in  the 
afternoon.  He  was  alone,  and  as  he  took  my  hand,  he  said  : 
'•  I  have  sent  for  you,  Mr.  McCulloch,  to  let  you  know  that  I 
want  you  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  if  you  do  not 
object  to  it,  I  shall  send  your  name  to  the  Senate.1'  I  was 
taken  all  aback  by  this  sudden  and  unexpected  announcement. 
It  was  an  office  that  I  had  not  aspired  to,  and  did  not  desire. 
I  knew  how  arduous  and  difficult  the  duties  of  the  head  of  that 
department  were,  and  a  place  had  been  offered  to  me  in  New 
York  which  it  would  be  greatly  for  my  interest  to  accept.  I 
hesitated  for  a  moment,  and  then  replied  :  "  I  thank  you,  Mr. 
President,  heartily  for  this  mark  of  your  confidence,  and  I 
should  be  glad  to  comply  with  your  wishes  if  I  did  not  distrust 
my  ability  to  do  what  will  be  required  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  in  the  existing  financial  condition  of  the  Govern 
ment."  "  I  will  be  responsible  for  that,"  said  the  President. 
"  I  will  be  responsible  for  that,  and  so  I  reckon  we  will  con 
sider  the  matter  settled."  The  President  seemed  to  be  greatly 
careworn,  but  he  was  cheerful,  and  after  a  brief  talk  with  him 
I  returned  to  my  office  and  said  nothing  to  any  one  about  the 
interview.  I  was,  I  confess,  gratified  by  being  asked  to  take 
the  most  important  place  in  the  Government,  but  I  was 
troubled  as  I  thought  of  its  duties  and  responsibilities.  I  could 
not  say  which  feeling  predominated — gratification  or  dread. 
The  next  day  my  nomination  was  sent  to  the  Senate,  and  was, 
as  I  understood,  unanimously  confirmed. 

I  may  say  here  that  I  found  the  office  a  very  laborious 

and  thankless  one.      I  gave  my  entire  time  to  its  duties,  I 

was  not  away  from  it  more  than   twenty  days    during   the 

whole  term  (four  years)  which  I  held  it,  frequently  working 

13 


194     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

by  night  as  well  as  by  day.  I  was  subject  to  the  most 
liberal  abuse  in  the  Senate  and  the  House,  and  to  some  extent 
by  the  press ;  and  yet  I  was  never  sorry  that  I  accepted  the 
post.  Responsibility  I  did  not  shrink  from — hard  work  agreed 
with  me — and  the  causeless  abuse  even  of  Senators  did  not 
disturb  me.  In  looking  back  after  so  many  years  upon  my 
administration  of  the  Treasury,  I  can  think  of  no  recommen 
dation  which  I  made  to  Congress  that  did  not  merit  favorable 
consideration ;  of  no  official  act  which  I  would  recall.  The 
only  thing  that  annoyed  rne,  and  that  not  very  much,  was  the 
course  of  some  of  my  Republican  friends  in  the  Senate  and 
House,  who,  when  a  rupture  of  my  official  relations  with  Presi 
dent  Johnson  was  feared,  would  come  to  the  Treasury  Depart 
ment  and  entreat  me  to  "  hold  on  "  (as  one  of  them  said,  "  for 
God's  sake,  hold  on  !  "),  and  then  go  back  to  the  Capitol  and 
hear  me  abused  without  uttering  a  word  in  my  behalf. 

My  appointment,  as  I  heard  after  it  was  made,  was 
strongly  recommended  by  Mr.  Chase  and  Mr.  Fessenden. 
This  was  gratifying  to  me,  because  they  knew  me  personally 
and  officially.  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  claimed  that  I  was 
indebted  to  him  for  my  appointment.  In  his  autobiography 
he  savs  that  Mr.  Lincoln  invited  him  to  Washington  for  a  con- 

•/  O 

sultation  about  the  person  who  should  be  selected  to  be  Mr. 
Fessenden's  successor,  and  that  after  discussing  the  qualifica 
tions  of  a  number  of  men  (my  name  being  one  of  them),  it 
was  agreed  that  he  (Mr.  Weed)  should  confer  freely  with  me 
and  report  his  conclusions.  The  following  is  Mr.  Weed's 
account  of  the  interview  with  me,  and  of  the  result : 

"  I  found  myself  not  a  little  embarrassed  on  my  way,  one 
Sunday  morning,  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  McCulloch.  The 
idea  of  establishing  relations  with  that  gentlemen  '  on  compul 
sion  '  seemed  like  seeking  knowledge  under  difficulties.  These 
difficulties,  however,  disappeared  by  degrees  as  our  conversa 
tion  proceeded.  There  were  two  elements  in  the  character  of 
Mr.  McCulloch,  on  which,  per  se,  I  was  disposed  to  rely. 


LETTER  TO   THE   NATIONAL   BANKS.  195 

He  had  Scotch  blood  in  his  veins,  and  had  been  in  politics  a 
AYhig.  My  interviews  with  that  gentleman,  if  protracted, 
were  made  so  by  his  intelligent,  right-minded,  and  straight 
forward  expression  of  views  and  opinions.  If,  in  going  to  Mr. 
McCulloch,  I  had  something  the  feeling  of  Toots  in  calling 
on  Captain  Cuttle  for  the  'favor  of  his  friendship,'  I  left 
him  with  a  strong  feeling  of  regard  and  confidence,  and  so 
reported  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  immediately  sent  his  name  to 
the  Senate — a  step  which  neither  Mr.  Lincoln  nor  the  people 
have  had  occasion  to  regret.  On  the  contray,  Mr.  McCulloch 
proved  himself  an  enlightened,  independent,  and  upright 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  To  the  friends  whom  I  represented, 
he  was  just  and  faithful.  To  myself,  who  was  frequently 
compelled  to  occupy  his  time  and  attention,  he  was  uniformly 
courteous  and  patient,  always  granting  what  was  proper  and 
in  his  power  to  grant,  and  never  refusing  without  a  good 
reason,  and  in  friendly  spirit.  All  my  recollections  of  Mr. 
McCulloch  in  his  department — the  only  place  I  am  sorry  to 
say  that  I  ever  met  him—are  pleasant  ones." 

I  recollect  that  Mr.  "Weed  did  call  upon  me  one  Sunday 
morning,  and  that  I  had  a  pleasant  chat  with  him  upon 
various  subjects,  but  I  never  heard  that  he  had  anything  to  do 
with  my  appointment  until  I  read  his  autobiography.  While 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  efforts  were  made  on  my  behalf  by 
the  gentlemen  I  have  named,  and  perhaps  by  others,  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  was  turned  towards 
me  by  the  impression  which  was  made  upon  him  by  a  letter 
which  I  addressed,  as  Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  to  the 
national  banks,  in  December,  1863,  which  he  read  at  the  time 
and  was  pleased  with.  A  few  extracts  from  this  letter  may 
not,  therefore,  be  out  of  place.  After  some  suggestions  in 
regard  to  the  records  of  bookkeeping,  organizations,  etc.,  etc., 
I  remarked : 

"Bear  constantly  in  mind,  although  the  loyal  States 
appear  superficially  to  be  in  a  prosperous  condition,  that 


196  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF   A    CENTURY. 

such  is  not  the  fact ;  that  while  the  Government  is  engaged 
in  the  suppression  of  a  rebellion  of  unexampled  fierceness 
and  magnitude,  and  is  constantly  draining  the  country  of 
its  laboring  and  producing  population,  and  diverting  its 
mechanical  industry  from  works  of  permanent  value  to 
the  construction  of  implements  of  warfare ;  while  cities  are 
crowded,  and  the  country  is  to  the  same  extent  depleted,  and 
waste  and  extravagance  prevail  as  they  never  before  prevailed 
in  the  United  States,  the  nation,  whatever  may  be  the 
external  indications,  is  not  prospering.  The  war  in  which  we 
are  involved  is  a  stern  necessity,  and  must  be  prosecuted  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Government,  no  matter  what  may  be 
its  cost ;  but  the  country  will  unquestionably  be  the  poorer 
every  day  it  is  continued.  The  seeming  prosperity  of  the 
loyal  States  is  owing  mainly  to  the  large  expenditures  of  the 
Government  and  the  redundant  currency  which  these  expendi 
tures  seem  to  render  necessary. 

"  Keep  these  facts  constantly  in  mind,  and  manage  the 
affairs  of  your  respective  banks  with  a  perfect  consciousness 
that  the  apparent  prosperity  of  the  country  will  be  proved  to 
be  unreal  when  the  Avar  is  closed,  if  not  before ;  and  be  pre 
pared  by  careful  management  of  the  trust  committed  to  you, 
to  help  to  save  the  nation  from  a  financial  collapse,  instead  of 
lending  your  influence  to  make  it  more  certain  and  more 
severe. 

u  Let  no  loans  be  made  that  are  not  secured  beyond  a 
reasonable  contingency.  Do  nothing  to  foster  and  encourage 
speculation.  Give  facilities  only  to  legitimate  and  prudent 
transactions.  Make  your  discounts  on  as  short  time  as  the 
business  of  your  customers  will  permit,  and  insist  upon  the 
payment  of  all  paper  at  maturity,  no  matter  whether  you 
need  the  money  or  not.  Never  renew  a  note  or  bill  merely 
because  you  may  not  know  where  to  place  the  money  with 
equal  advantage  if  the  paper  is  paid.  In  no  other  way  can 
you  properly  control  your  discount  line,  or  make  it  at  all 
times  reliable. 

"  Distribute  your  loans  rather  than  concentrate  them  in  a 
fewT  hands.  Large  loans  to  a  single  individual  or  firm, 
although  sometimes  proper  and  necessary,  are  generally  inju 
dicious,  and  frequently  unsafe.  Large  borrowers  are  apt  to 
control  the  bank ;  and  when  this  is  the  relation  between  a 
bank  and  its  customers,  it  is  not  difficult  to  decide  which  in 
the  end  will  suffer.  Every  dollar  that  a  bank  loans  above  its 
capital  and  surplus  it  owes  for,  and  its  managers  are  therefore 
under  the  strongest  obligations  to  its  creditors,  as  well  as  to 


PROTECTION  OF  A  SURPLUS.  197 

its  stockholders,  to  keep  its  discounts  constantly  under  its  con 
trol. 

"  Treat  your  customers  liberally,  bearing  in  mind  the  fact 
that  a  bank  prospers  as  its  customers  prosper,  but  never  per 
mit  them  to  dictate  your  policy. 

"  If  you  doubt  the  propriety  of  discounting  an  offering, 
give  the  bank  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and  decline  it ;  never 
make  a  discount  if  you  doubt  the  propriety  of  doing  it.  If 
you  have  reason  to  distrust  the  integrity  of  a  customer,  close 
his  account.  oSTever  deal  with  a  rascal  under  the  impression 
that  you  can  prevent  him  from  cheating  you.  The  risk  in 
such  cases  is  greater  than  the  profits. 

"  In  business,  know  no  man's  politics.  Manage  your  bank 
as  a  business  institution,  and  let  no  political  partiality  or  pre 
judice  influence  your  judgment  or  action  in  the  conduct  of  its 
affairs.  The  national  currency  system  is  intended  for  a 
nation,  not  for  a  party ;  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  keep  it  aloof 
from  all  partisan  influences." 

"Pay  your  officers  such  salaries  as  will  enable  them  to 
live  comfortably  and  respectably  without  stealing  ;  and  require 
of  them  their  entire  services.  If  an  officer  lives  beyond  his 
income,  dismiss  him  ;  even  if  his  excess  of  expenditures  can  be 
explained  consistently  with  his  integrity,  still  dismiss  him. 
Extravagance,  if  not  a  crime,  very  naturally  leads  to  crime. 
A  man  cannot  be  a  safe  officer  of  a  bank  who  spends  more 
than  he  earns. 

''  The  capital  of  a  bank  should  be  a  reality,  not  a  fiction  ; 
and  it  should  be  owned  by  those  who  have  money  to  lend, 
and  not  by  borrowers.  The  Comptroller  will  endeavor  to  pre 
vent,  by  all  means  within  his  control,  the  creation  of  a  nomi 
nal  capital  by  national  banks,  by  the  use  of  their  circulation,  or 
any  other  artificial  means  ;  and  in  his  efforts  to  do  this,  he  con 
fidently  expects  the  co-operation  of  all  the  well-managed  banks. 

"  Every  banker  under  the  national  system  should  feel  that 
the  reputation  of  the  system  in  a  measure  depends  upon  the 
manner  in  which  his  particular  institution  is  conducted,  and 
that,  as  far  as  his  influence  and  management  extend,  he  is 
responsible  for  its  success ;  that  he  is  engaged  in  an  experi 
ment  which,  if  successful,  will  reflect  the  highest  honor  upon 
all  who  are  connected  with  it,  and  be  of  incalculable  benefit 
to  the  country  ;  but  which,  if  unsuccessful,  will  be  a  reproach 
to  its  advocates  and  a  calamity  to  the  people.  It  should  be  a 
chief  aim,  therefore,  of  the  managers  of  the  banks,  to  make 
their  respective  institutions  strong  ;  not  only  to  keep  their 
capital  from  being  impaired,  but  gradually  to  create  a  surplus 


198  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

that  will  be  a  protection  to  their  capital  and  to  their  creditors 
in  the  trying  times  that  sooner  or  later  happen  to  all  banking 
institutions.  There  are  few  items  that  have  a  better  look 
upon  the  balance-sheet,  and  none  that  is  better  calculated  to 
give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  managers  of  a  bank,  and  to 
secure  for  it  the  confidence  of  the  people,  than  a  large  surplus 
fund.  Create,  then,  a  good  surplus,  even  if  you  have  for  a 
time  to  keep  your  stockholders  on  short  commons  in  the  mat 
ter  of  dividends,  to  do  it. 

u  Pursue  a  straightforward,  upright,  legitimate  banking 
business.  Never  be  tempted  by  the  prospect  of  large  returns 
to  do  anything  but  what  may  be  properly  done  under  the 
National  Currency  Act.  '  Splendid  financiering '  is  not  legiti 
mate  banking,  and  '  splendid  financiers,'  in  banking,  are  gener 
ally  either  humbugs  or  rascals. 

"  Recollect,  especially  at  the  present  time,  that  it  should 
be  the  object  of  all  honorable  bankers  to  expedite  as  far  as 
practicable,  rather  than  to  postpone,  a  return  to  specie  pay 
ments.  While  the  exigencies  of  the  nation  have  required  that 
the  issues  of  the  Government  should  be  a  legal  tender,  it  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  the  business  of  the  country  rests  upon 
an  unsound  basis,  or,  rather,  is  without  a  proper  basis,  as  long 
as  the  Government  and  the  banks  are  not  meeting  their  obli 
gations  in  coin. 

"  The  eyes  of  the  people  are  turned  to  the  national  banks. 
The  indications  are  strong  that  if  they  are  well  managed  they 
will  furnish  the  country  with  its  bank-note  circulation.  It  is 
of  the  last  importance,  then,  that  they  should  be  so  managed. 

"  The  sincere  efforts  of  the  Comptroller  will  not  be  want 
ing  to  make  the  system  a  benefit  to  the  country.  May  he  not 
expect  that  these  efforts  on  his  part  will  be  sustained  by  the 
efforts  of  the  managers  of  the  banks  that  have  been  or  may  be 
organizing:  under  it?  " 


1  &' 


-These  suggestions  I  thought  were  timely  as  well  as  sound, 
and  they  were  so  considered  by  the  banks  ;  but  one  of  the 
Pittsburgh  journals,  referring  to  what  I  said  about  the  condi 
tion  of  the  country,  denounced  me  as  a  copperhead.  That  an 
officer  of  the  Government  should  intimate  that  the  country 
was  not  prospering  while  engaged  in  a  civil  war  of  enormous 
magnitude,  was,  in  the  estimation  of  the  editor  of  a  paper  of 
large  circulation,  an  evidence  of  disloyalty,  for  which  he 
should  be  dismissed. 


CONSULTATION    WITH   BANKERS.  199 

In  the  administration  of  the  department,  my  action  was 
precisely  what  it  would  have  been  had  I  been  managing  my 
own  personal  affairs.  I  did  what  I  thought  ought  to  be  done, 
under  the  authority  with  which  I  was  clothed,  without  being 
influenced  by  others.  Financial  matters  had  not  been  dis 
cussed  at  the  Cabinet  meetings  before  I  became  Secretary, 
and  they  were  not  as  long  as  I  continued  in  office.  Each 
member  had  as  much  as  he  could  do  in  the  management  of 
his  own  department,  and  it  seemed  to  be  generally  understood 
that  each  should  act  independently  in  the  work  that  was 
devolved  upon  him  by  his  position.  My  policy,  therefore,  like 
that  of  my  immediate  predecessors,  was  neither  directed  nor 
influenced  by  my  associates  in  the  Cabinet,  nor  did  I  think  it 
advisable  to  go  elsewhere  for  advice.  Soon  after  Mr.  Fessen- 
den  was  appointed  Secretary,  he  thought  he  should  see  his 
way  more  clearly  if  he  knew  what  the  prominent  bankers  and 
merchants  of  New  York  would  advise  in  regard  to  his  policy. 
At  his  request,  therefore,  I  went  to  New  York,  and  had  a  free 
talk  with  a  number  of  such  men  as  I  knew  to  be  intelligent, 
and  who  I  thought  would  give  me  disinterested  opinions.  I 
did  not  ask  them  to  meet  together,  but  in  private  interviews  I 
endeavored  to  obtain  from  each  as  much  light  as  he  could 
shed  upon  the  points  which  were  presented  to  him.  I  did  not 
expect  to  gain  much  by  these  interviews,  but  I  confess  I  was 
disappointed  at  the  want  of  accord  in  the  opinions  that  were 
expressed.  They  were  all  high-toned  and  able  men,  but  I 
could  not  avoid  the  conclusion  that  all  viewed  the  questions 
in  which  Mr.  Fessenden  was  so  deeply  interested  in  the  light 
of  their  own  personal  interests.  This  was  natural,  for  no 
honorable  business  man  ever  supposes  that  his  own  interests 
can  be  antagonistic  to  those  of  his  Government.  There  was 
no  accord  even  among  the  bankers  in  regard  to  what  should 
be  the  policy  of  the  Secretary.  I  ought  not  to  have  been  sur 
prised  at  this,  for  I  knew  that  the  bankers  of  New  York  had 
always  been  in  the  habit  of  deciding  and  acting  each  for  him- 


200  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF   A    CENTURY. 

self  in  cases  of  emergency,  without  reference  to  the  opinions 
and  action  of  others — that  there  was  not  then  and  never  had 
been  in  that  city,  in  times  of  financial  trouble,  a  banker  of 
such  acknowledged  superiority  that  the  other  bankers  would 
look  to  him  for  guidance.  In  the  financial  crisis  of  1857,  I 
Avent  to  Xew  York  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  Bank  of 
the  State  of  Indiana,  which  had  large  deposits  in  the  banks  of 
that  city.  Soon  after  my  arrival,  I  met  Thomas  Tileston, 
president  of  the  Phoenix  Bank,  a  banker  and  merchant  of 
great  ability  whom  I  had  known  for  many  years.  "  Well, 
Mr.  McCulloch,"  said  he,  "  you  see  how  we  are  here — all  pull 
ing  and  hauling  in  different  directions.  What  shah1  we  do  ?  " 
"  Call  a  meeting  of  the  presidents  of  all  the  banks,"  I  replied, 
"  and  elect  a  king  with  full  power  to  compel  unity  of  action, 
and  all  will  go  right.'"  All  but  the  Chemical  Bank  had  sus 
pended  specie  payments,  and  in  this  action  only  Avere  they  in 
full  accord. 

On  my  return  to  Washington,  I  gave  to  Mr.  Fessenden 
an  account  of  my  fruitless  mission,  and  said  to  him :  "  There 
is  but  one  thing  for  you  to  do,  which  is,  to  administer  the 
department  in  your  own  way,  letting  consequences  take  care 
of  themselves ;  outside  advice  will  embarrass  instead  of  helping 
you."  When  I  succeeded  Mr.  Fessenden,  I  did  what  I  advised 
him  to  do.  For  any  mistakes  that  were  made  during  my 
management  of  the  Treasury  Department  (there  were,  perhaps, 
many  that  I  have  failed  to  discern,)  I  was  alone  responsible. 
I  have  no  disposition  to  refer  to  the  particular  measures  which 
were  adopted  to  raise  the  money  which  was  needed,  in  addi 
tion  to  the  revenues,  to  relieve  the  Treasury  from  embarrass 
ments  ;  to  meet  the  heavy  requisitions  of  the  War  and  Navy 
departments  for  the  payment  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  after 
the  war  was  ended — and  to  fund  temporary  loans  and  early- 
maturing  obligations;  but  it  is  proper  for  me  to  say  something 
about  the  general  policy  that  was  pursued  to  bring  about  these 
results.  This  I  shall  do  when  I  conclude  what  I  have  to  say 


SPEECH   AT  FOKT   WAYNE.  201 

about  ray  administration  of  the  department,  by  copying  a  few 
pages  from  my  last  report  of  December  1,  1868.  In  October, 
1865,  seven  months  after  I  was  appointed  Secretary,  I  went  to 
Fort  Wayne  to  look  after  some  personal  matters.  While 
there,  I  delivered  an  address  at  a  dinner  given  in  my  honor. 
Upon  the  currency  and  the  financial  outlook,  I  spoke  as 
follows : 

"  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  seem  disposed  to  repudiate 
coin  as  a  measure  of  value,  and  to  make  a  secured  paper  cur 
rency  the  standard.  On  the  contrary,  I  belong  to  that  class 
of  persons  who,  regarding  an  exclusive  metallic  currency  as  an 
impracticable  thing  among  an  enterprising  and  commercial 
people,  nevertheless  look  upon  an  irredeemable  currency  as  an 
evil  which  circumstances  may  for  a  time  render  a  necessity, 
but  which  is  never  to  be  sustained  as  a  policy.  By  common 
consent  of  the  nations,  gold  and  silver  are  the  only  true  meas 
ure  of  value.  They  are  the  necessary  regulators  of  trade.  I 
have  myself  no  more  doubt  that  these  metals  were  prepared 
by  the  Almighty  for  this  very  purpose,  than  I  have  that  iron 
and  coal  were  prepared  for  the  purposes  for  which  they  are 
being  used.  I  favor  a  well-secured  convertible  paper  currency 
—no  other  can  to  any  extent  be  a  proper  substitute  for  coin. 
Of  course  it  is  not  expected  that  there  shall  be  a  dollar  in  coin 
in  reserve  for  every  dollar  of  paper  in  circulation.  This  is  not 
necessary.  For  all  ordinary  home  transactions,  a  paper  cur 
rency  is  sufficient ;  but  there  are  constantly  occurring  periods 
when  balances  between  countries — and  in  the  United  States 
between  its  different  sections — must  be  settled  by  coin.  These 
balances  are  insignificant  in  amount,  in  comparison  with  the 
transactions  out  of  which  they  arise,  and  when  a  vicious  sys 
tem  of  credits  does  not  too  long  postpone  settlements,  they 
are  arranged  without  disturbing  movements  of  coin.  When 
ever  specie  is  needed  for  such  a  purpose,  or  for  any  other  pur 
pose,  the  paper  currency  of  the  country  should  be  convertible 
into  it,  and  a  circulation  which  is  not  so  convertible  will  not 
be,  and  ought  not  to  be,  long  tolerated  by  the  people.  The 
present  inconvertible  currency  of  the  United  States  was  a 
necessity  of  the  war ;  but  now  that  the  war  has  ceased,  and  the 
Government  ought  not  to  be  longer  a  borrower,  this  currency 
should  be  brought  up  to  the  specie  standard,  and  I  see  no  way 
of  doing  this  but  by  withdrawing  a  portion  of  it  from  circula 
tion. 


202  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A    CENTUKY. 

"  I  have  no  faith,  sir,  in  a  prosperity  which  is  the  effect  of 
a  depreciated  currency,  nor  can  I  see  any  safe  path  for  us  to 
tread  but  that  which  "leads  to  specie  payment.  The  extreme 
high  prices  which  now  prevail  in  the  United  States  are  an 
unerring  indication  that  the  business  of  the  country  is  in  an 
unhealthy  condition.  We  are  measuring  values  by  a  false 
standard!  We  have  a  circulating  medium  altogether  larger 
than  is  needed  for  legitimate  business ;  the  excess  is  used  in 
speculations.  The  United  States  is  to-day  the  best  market 
in  the  world  for  foreigners  to  sell  in,  and  among  the  worst  to 
buy  in.  The  consequence  is  that  Europe  is  selling  us  more 
than  she  buys  of  us  (including  our  securities,  which  ought  not 
to  go  abroad),  and  there  is  a  debt  rolling  up  against  us  that 
must  be  settled,  in  part,  at  least,  with  coin.  The  longer  the 
inflation  continues,  the  more  difficult  will  it  be  for  us  to  get 
back  to  the  solid  ground  of  specie  payments,  to  which  we  must 
return  sooner  or  later.  If  Congress  shall,  early  in  the  ap 
proaching  session,  authorize  the  funding  of  the  legal  tenders,  and 
the  work  of  reduction  is  commenced  and  carried  on  resolutely, 
but  carefully,  and  prudently,  we  shall  reach  it  probably  with 
out  serious  embarrassment  to  legitimate  business ;  if  not,  we 
shall  have  a  brief  period  of  hollow  and  seductive  prosperity, 
resulting  in  wide-spread  bankruptcy  and  disaster. 

"  There  are  other  objections  to  the  present  inflation.  It  is, 
I  fear,  corrupting  the  public  morals.  It  is  converting  the  busi 
ness  of  the  country  into  gambling,  and  seriously  diminishing 
the  labor  of  the  country.  This  is  always  the  effect  of  exces 
sive  circulation.  The  kind  of  gambling  which  it  produces  is 
not  confined  to  the  stock  and  produce  boards,  where  the  very 
terms  which  are  used  by  the  operators  indicate  the  nature  of 
the  transactions,  but  it  is  spreading  through  our  towns  and 
into  the  rural  districts.  Men  are  apparently  getting  rich, 
while  morality  languishes  and  the  productive  industry  of  the 
country  is  being  diminished.  Good  morals  in  business,  and 
sober,  persevering  industry,  if  not  at  a  discount,  are  consid 
ered  too  old-fogyish  for  the  present  times. 

"  But  while  I  feel  anxious  about  the  present  inflation,  and 
its  effect  upon  the  business  and  morals  of  the  country,  I  am 
hopeful  that  by  wise  legislation  we  shall  escape  a  financial  col 
lapse,  and  I  am  confident  that  a  grand  future  is  before  the 
United  States.  I  am  hopeful  that  the  currency  may  be 
brought  up  to  the  specie  standard  without  those  financial 
troubles  which  in  all  countries  have  followed  protracted  and 
expensive  wars.  By  the  experiences  of  the  past  four  years  we 
are  led  to  the  conclusion  that  our  people  have  a  latent  power 


DESTINY   OF   THE   NATION.  203 


that  will  manifest  itself  when  required,  and  which  is  equal  to 
any  emergency.  I  have  faith,  sir,  that  as  we  have,  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  world,  raised  immense  armies  —  larger,  I 
apprehend,  than  any  single  nation  ever  brought  into  the  field— 
and  met  the  enormous  expenses  of  the  war  without  borrowing 
from  other  nations,  we  shall  also  be  able,  without  a  financial 
crisis,  to  fund  our  surplus  currency  and  interest-bearing  notes, 
bring  back  the  business  to  a  specie  standard,  and  place  the 
credit  of  the  country  on  the  most  stable  and  satisfactory  basis. 
If  we  do  this,  we  shall  accomplish  what  the  soundest  thinkers 
in  Europe  have  considered  an  impossibility,  and  what  no  other 
people  but  the  free  and  enterprising  people  of  the  United 
States,  occupying  the  grandest  country  in  the  world,  could 
accomplish. 

"  But  should  we  be  disappointed  in  these  hopeful  expecta 
tions  ;  should  no  early  check  be  put  upon  the  issues  of  paper 
money  ;  should  prices  still  further  advance  and  speculation  be 
still  further  stimulated,  and  the  result  thereof  be  extensive 
bankruptcy,  depression,  and  hard  times,  the  grand  destiny  of 
this  country  and  this  government  will  not  be  affected. 

"  The  United  States  occupies  the  best  portion  of  the  tempe 
rate  zone  of  a  continent  stretching  out  its  arms  to  Europe  on 
the  one  side  and  Asia  on  the  other,  and  producing  all  articles 
necessary  for  the  subsistence  and  comfort  of  the  race.  If  cot 
ton  be  king,  he  is,  thank  God,  enthroned  again  in  the  United 
States  ;  if  bread  be  king,  where  should  his  capital  be  but  in 
this  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi?  This  nation  has  within 
itself  everything  that  is  needed  to  make  it  the  greatest  among 
the  family  of  nations.  Coal  and  iron  in  juxtaposition  and 
inexhaustible  supply;  mountains  and  valleys  rich  enough  in 
gold  and  silver  to  furnish  the  world,  for  all  time,  with  what 
may  be  needed  for  circulation  and  other  uses;  copper,  and 
lead,  and  other  minerals  in  no  less  abundance  ;  a  soil  of 
wonderful  fertility,  a  climate  salubrious  and  diversified,  and, 
above  all,  republican  institutions  and  an  energetic  and  again 
united  people. 

"  A\  e  have,  it  is  true,  sir,  difficult  questions  growing  out  of 
the  war,  yet  to  be  settled  ;  but  I  have  an  abiding  confidence 
that  they  will  be  settled,  as  they  come  up  for  settlement,  in 
such  manner  as  will  strengthen  the  Union  and  add  to  our 
national  renown.  The  labor  question  at  the  South  is  one  of 
those  questions,  but  if  there  be  no  outside  interference,  it  will 
not,  I  apprehend,  be  a  very  difficult  one;  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  quite  likely  to  be  a  self-adjusting  one.  The  planter  wants 
the  labor  of  his  former  slaves,  and  the  high  price  which 


204  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF    A    CENTURY. 

Southern  products  will  command  for  years  to  come  \vill  enable 
him  to  pay  liberally  for  it.  The  colored  people  will  soon 
learn  that  freedom  from  slavery  does  not  mean  freedom  from 
work.  The  interests  of  the  two  races  will  not  long  be  antago 
nistic.  The  whites  will  need  the  labor  of  the  blacks,  and  the 
blacks  will  need  employment.  There  is  as  much  danger  to  be 
apprehended  from  the  unwillingness  of  the  latter  to  labor  for 
a  support,  as  from  an  indisposition  on  the  part  of  the  former 
to  pay  fair  wages.  Like  all  other  economical  questions,  it  will 
be  settled  by  the  necessities  and  interests  of  the  parties. 

"  Fortunately  for  the  solution  of  this  question,  and  the  well- 
being  of  laboring  men  generally,  capital  is  not  supreme  in  the 
United  States.  It  does  not,  as  in  most  other  countries,  hold 
labor  under  its  control,  and  dole  out  to  it  only  such  remunera 
tion  as  will  make  it  most  productive.  Labor'is  a  power  in  this 
free  country,  with  its  cheap  lands  which  are  within  the  reach 
of  all  industrious  men,  and  dictates  terms  to  capital.  There  is 
no  part  of  the  world  where  labor  is  more  needed  than  in  the 
Southern  States,  nor  where  it  will  soon  command  better  prices. 
This  labor  question  at  the  South  will,  I  doubt  not,  be  satisfac 
torily  arranged  in  due  time  for  the  best  interest  of  all  con 
cerned." 

These  remarks  were  favorably  commented  upon  bv  the 
leading  journals  throughout  the  country,  and  so  great  was  the 
demand  for  the  address,  in  which  the  political  as  well  as  the 
financial  policy  of  the  administration  was  presented  with  con 
siderable  fulness — that  a  second  edition  of  it  was  soon 
exhausted.  In  the  address  I  did  not  refer  to  the  national 
debt.  My  views  in  regard  to  the  debt,  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  should  be  treated,  were  presented  in  my  reports  to 
Congress,  a  few  extracts  from  which  may  be  of  interest  even 
at  this  late  day.  The  folloAving  are  from  my  first  report : 

"  At  the  close  of  a  great  Avar,  which  has  been  waged  on 
both  sides  with  a  vigor  and  energy,  and  with  an  expenditure 
of  money,  without  a  precedent  in  history,  the  people  of  the 
United  States  are  incumbered  with  a  debt  which  requires  the 
immediate  and  careful  consideration  of  their  representatives. 
Since  the  commencement  of  the  special  session  of  1861,  the 
most  important  subject  which  has  demanded  and  received  the 
attention  of  Congress  has  been  that  of  providing  the  means  to 


FIRST    REPORT   AS   SECRETARY.  205 

prosecute  the  war ;  and  the  success  of  the  Government  in  rais 
ing  money  is  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  the  measures  devised 
for  this  purpose,  as  well  as  of  the  loyalty  of  the  people  and  the 
resources  of  the  country.  No  nation,  within  the  same  period, 
ever  borrowed  so  largely,  or  with  so  much  facility.  It  is  now 
to  be  demonstrated  that  a  republican  government  can  not 
only  carry  on  a  war  on  a  most  gigantic  scale,  and  create  a 
debt  of  immense  magnitude,  but  can  place  this  debt  on  a  satis 
factory  basis,  and  meet  every  engagement  with  fidelity.  The 
same  wisdom  which  has  been  exhibited  by  the  national  coun 
cils  in  providing  the  means  for  preserving  the  national  unity, 
will  not  be  wanting  in  devising  measures  for  establishing  the 
national  credit. 

"  The  maintenance  of  public  faith  is  a  national  necessity. 
Nations  do  not  and  cannot  safely  accumulate  moneys  to  be 
used  at  a  future  day,  and  exigencies  are  constantly  occurring 
in  which  the  richest  and  most  powerful  are  under  the  neces 
sity  of  borrowing.  The  millennial  days  when  nations  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and  their  spears  into  prun 
ing  hooks,  and  learn  war  no  more,  are  yet,  according  to  all 
existing  indications,  far  in  the  future.  Weak  and  defaulting 
nations  may  maintain  a  nominally  independent  existence,  but 
it  will  be  by  reason  of  the  jealousies  rather  than  the  forbear 
ance  of  stronger  powers.  No  nation  is  absolutely  safe  which 
is  not  in  a  condition  to  defend  itself;  nor  can  it  be  in  this  con 
dition,  no  matter  how  strong  in  other  respects,  without  a  well- 
established  financial  credit.  Nations  cannot,  therefore,  afford 
to  be  unfaithful  to  their  pecuniary  obligations.  Credit  to 
them,  as  to  individuals,  is  money ;  and  money  is  the  war-power 
of  the  age.  But  for  the  unfaltering  confidence  of  the  people 
of  the  loyal  States  in  the  good  faith  of  the  Government,  the 
late  rebellion  would  have  been  a  success,  and  this  great  nation, 
so  rapidly  becoming  again  united  and  harmonious,  would  have 
been  broken  into  weak  and  belligerent  fragments. 

"  But  the  public  faith  of  the  United  States  has  higher  con 
siderations  than  these  for  its  support.  It  rests  not  only  upon 
the  interests  of  the  people,  but  upon  their  integrity  and  virtue. 
The  debt  of  the  United  States  has  been  created  by  the  people 
in  their  successful  struggle  for  undivided  and  indivisible  nation 
ality.  It  is  not  a  debt  imposed  upon  unwilling  subjects  by 
despotic  authority,  but  one  incurred  by  the  people  themselves 
for  the  preservation  of  their  Government ;  by  the  preservation 
of  which  those  who  have  been  leagued  together  for  its  over 
throw  are  to  be  as  really  benefited  as  those  who  have  been  bat 
tling  for  its  maintenance.  As  it  is  a  debt  voluntarily  incurred 


206  MEX   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CE1STTUKY. 

for  the  common  good,  its  burdens  will  be  cheerfully  borne  by 
the  people,  who  will  not  permit  them  to  be  permanent.  The 
debt  is  large,  but  if  kept  at  home,  as  it  is  desirable  it  should 
be,  with  a  judicious  system  of  taxation,  it  need  not  be  oppres 
sive.  It  is,  however,  a  debt.  While  it  is  capital  to  the  hold 
ers  of  securities,  it  is  still  a  national  debt,  and  an  incumbrance 
upon  the  national  estate.  Neither  its  advantages  nor  its  bur 
dens,  are,  or  can  be,  shared  or  borne  equally  by  the  people. 
Its  influence  is  anti-republican.  It  adds  to  the  power  of  the 
executive  by  increasing  federal  patronage.  It  must  be  distaste 
ful  to  the  people  because  it  fills  the  country  with  informers 
and  tax-gatherers.  It  is  dangerous  to  the  public  virtue  because 
it  involves  the  collection  and  disbursement  of  vast  sums  of 
money,  and  renders  rigid  national  economy  almost  impractica 
ble.  It  is,  in  a  word,  a  national  burden,  and  the  work  of 
removing  it,  no  matter  how  desirable  it  may  be  for  individual 
investment,  should  not  be  long  postponed. 

"  As  all  true  men  desire  to  leave  to  their  heirs  unincum- 
bered  estates,  so  should  it  be  the  ambition  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  relieve  their  descendants  of  this  national 
mortgage.  We  need  not  be  anxious  that  future  generations 
shall  share  the  burden  with  us.  Wars  are  not  at  an  end,  and 
posterity  will  have  enough  to  do  to  take  care  of  the  debts  of 
their  own  creation. 

"  Various  plans  have  been  suggested  for  the  payment  of 
the  debt,  but  the  Secretary  sees  no  way  of  accomplishing  it 
but  by  an  increase  of  the  national  income  beyond  the  national 
expenditures.  In  a  matter  of  so  great  importance  as  this, 
experiments  are  out  of  place.  The  plain,  beaten  path  of  experi 
ence  is  the  only  safe  one  to  tread.  The  first  step  to  be  taken 
is  to  institute  measures  for  funding  the  obligations  that  are 
soon  to  mature.  The  next  is  to  provide  for  raising,  in  a  man 
ner  the  least  odious  and  oppressive  to  tax-payers,  the  revenue 
necessary  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  debt,  and  a  certain  definite 
amount  annually  for  the  reduction  of  the  principal.  The 
Secretary  respectfully  suggests  that  on  this  subject  the  ex 
pression  of  Congress  should  be  decided  and  emphatic.  It  is 
of  the  greatest  importance,  in  the  management  of  a  matter 
of  so  surpassing  interest,  that  the  right  start  should  be  made. 
Nothing  but  revenue  will  sustain  the  national  credit,  and 
nothing  less  than  a  fixed  policy  for  the  reduction  of  the  public 
debt  will  be  likely  to  prevent  its  increase." 

In  my  second  report,  I  referred  to  it  in  the  following  lan 
guage  : 


IMPORTANCE   OF   DEBT-REDUCTION.  207 

"  The  idea  that  a  national  debt  can  be  anything  less  than  a 
burden  in  which  there  are  some  compensations,  but  still  a  bur 
den — a  mortgage  upon  the  property  and  industry  of  the  people 
—is,  fortunately,  not  an  American  idea.  In  countries  in  which 
the  public  expenditures  are  so  heavy,  or  the  resources  are 
so  small,  that  no  reduction  of  their  debts  is  practicable,  and 
where  national  securities  become  monopolized  capital  in  the 
hands  of  moneyed  aristocracies,  who  not  only  absorb  the 
means,  but  give  direction  to  the  sentiments  of  the  people, 
public  debts  may  be  regarded  as  public  blessings ;  but  no  such 
fallacy  will  ever  be  countenanced  by  the  free  and  intelligent 
people  of  the  United  States. 

'•  Nothing  in  our  history  has  created  so  much  surprise, 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  as  the  reduction  of  our  national 
debt.  The  Avonder  excited  by  the  rapidity  with  which  it  was 
created,  is  greatly  exceeded  by  admiration  of  the  resolution 
of  the  tax-payers  themselves  that  it  shall  be  speedily  extin 
guished.  The  conviction  is  becoming  fastened  upon  the  popular 
mind  that  it  is  important  for  economy  in  the  national  expenses, 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  true  democracy  in  the  administration 
of  the  Government,  for  the  cause  of  good  morals  and  public 
virtue,  that  the  policy  for  a  steady  annual  reduction  of  the 
debt  should  be  definitely  and  inexorably  established.  Nothing 
short  of  this,  and  that  economy  in  the  national  expenditures 
which  will  render  it  practicable,  will  reconcile  the  people  to 
the  burdens  of  taxation.  A  national  debt  must  be  a  severe 
strain  upon  republican  institutions,  and  ours  should  not  be  sub 
ject  to  it  one  day  longer  than  is  necessary." 

In  my  third  I  referred  to  it  as  follows  : 

"  The  right  start  in  the  direction  suggested  has  been  made. 
Since  the  first  day  of  September,  1865,  the  debt  has  been 
reduced  $266,185,121.43.  JSTow  if  such  a  reduction  could  be 
made  while  the  industry  of  one-third  part  of  the  country,  by 
reason  of  the  war  and  the  unsettled  state  of  its  political  affairs, 
has  been  exceedingly  depressed,  and  the  other  two-thirds  have 
by  no  means  exerted  their  full  productive  power ;  if  such  a 
reduction  could  be  made,  notwithstanding  the  liberal  miscella 
neous  appropriations  by  Congress,  the  payment  of  bounties, 
and  the  great  expense  of  maintaining  large  military  forces 
upon  the  frontier  and  in  the  Southern  States,  can  there  be  any 
good  reason  why  the  reduction,  so  successfully  commenced 
under  the  most  inauspicious  circumstances,  should  not  be  con 
tinued  steadily  and  without  interruption  until  every  dollar  of 


208     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

it  is  extinguished.  The  Secretary  indulges  the  hope  that  the 
policy  which  has  been  inaugurated,  and  which,  in  his  judg 
ment,  is  so  essential  to  the  national  credit,  if  not  to  the  preser 
vation,  of  republican  institutions,  will  not  be  abandoned.  Old 
debts  are  hard  debts  to  pay.  The  longer  they  are  continued, 
the  more  odious  do  they  "become.  If  the  present  generation 
should  throw  the  burden"  of  this  debt  upon  the  next,  it  will  be 
quite  likely  to  be  handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another, 
a  perpetual,  if  not  a  constantly-increasing  burden  upon  the 
people.  Our  country  is  full  of  enterprise  and  resources.  The 
debt  will  be  lightened  every  year  with  great  rapidity  by  the 
increase  of  wealth  and  population.  With  a  proper  reduction 
in  the  expenses  of  the  Government,  and  with  a  revenue  system 
adapted  to  the  industry  of  the  country,  and  not  oppressing  it, 
the  debt  may  be  paid  before  the  expiration  of  the  present  cen 
tury.  The  wisdom  of  a  policy  which  shall  bring  about  such  a 
result,  is  vindicated  in  advance  by  the  history  of  nations  Avhose 
people  are  burdened  with  inherited  debts,  and  with  no  prospect 
of  relief  for  themselves  or  their  posterity." 

And  in  my  fourth  and  last  report,  I  remarked  : 

"  The  Secretary  has  noticed,  with  deep  regret,  indications  of 
a  growing  sentiment  in  Congress — notwithstanding  the  favora 
ble  exhibits  which  have  been  from  time  to  time  made  of  the 
debt-paying  power  of  the  country — in  favor  of  a  postpone 
ment  of  the  payment  of  the  principal  of  the  debt  until  the 
national  resources  shall  be  so  increased  as  to  make  the  pay 
ment  of  it  more  easy.  If  this  sentiment  shall  so  prevail  as 
to  give  direction  to  the  action  of  the  Government,  he  would 
feel  that  a  very  great  error  had  been  committed,  which  could 
hardly  fail  to  be  a  serious  misfortune  to  the  country.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  will  never  be  so  willing  to  be  taxed 
for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  debt  as  at  the  present  time. 
Now,  the  necessity  for  its  creation  is  better  understood  and 
appreciated  than  it  can  be  at  a  future  day.  Now,  it  is  regarded 
by  a  large  majority  of  tax-payers  as  a  part  of  the  great  price 
paid  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Government,  and  therefore  a 
sacred  debt.  The  longer  the  reduction  of  it  is  postponed,  the 
greater  will  be  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accomplishing  it, 
and  the  more  intolerable  will  seem,  to  be  the  burden  of  taxa 
tion." 

From  these  extracts  it  will  be  noticed  that  in  all  my  reports 
I  spoke  of  the  debt  as  one  that  ought  not  to  be  perpetuated. 


SURPRISING   DECREASE   OF   THE   DEBT.  209 

In  fact  the  discussion  of  the  debt  and  the  currency  question 
constituted  a  large  part  of  my  annual  reports  to  Congress. 
The  views  which  I  presented  in  regard  to  the  national  debt 
were  received  with  favor,  and  the  policy  of  steadily  redeeming 
it  has  been  adhered  to,  until  this  great  national  debt,  which 
twenty  years  ago  was  by  many  regarded  with  gloomy  fore 
bodings  as  to  its  burdens  and  its  effects  upon  our  republican 
institutions,  has  been  so  reduced  in  amount,  and  in  the  rate  of 
interest  which  it  bears,  that  it  has  ceased  to  be  burdensome. 

Many  things  have  occurred  in  the  United  States  within  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century  to  excite  surprise  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic,  but  nothing  has  been  so  surprising  as  the  rapid 
progress  that  has  been  made  in  the  payment  of  our  public  debt. 
That  the  reduction  should  have  been  commenced  within  seven 
months  from  the  close  of  a  war  of  unequalled  cost,  and  con 
tinued  through  years  of  great  financial  depression,  is  about  the 
last  thing  that  the  advocates  or  supporters  of  monarchy 
expected  from  a  republican  government. 
14 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  House  on  the  18th  of  December,  1863,  by  Vote  of  144  to  6,  Approved  my 
Recommendation  for  the  Withdrawal  of  the  Legal-tender  Note — In  April 
Following  an  Act  was  Passed  Authorizing  the  Withdrawal  and  Cancella 
tion  of  Ten  Millions  of  Legal  Tenders  in  Six  Months,  and  Four  Millions 
per  Month  Thereafter— Under  this  Act  Forty-eight  Millions  of  Legal- 
tender  Notes  Cancelled — Market  not  Affected  by  the  Reduction — Increase 
of  Issue,  in  Panic  of  1873— Francis  E.  Spinner,  Treasurer — His  Character 
— Panics  and  their  Cause — Speculation  in  the  Timbered  Lands  of  Maine — 
Financial  Crisis  of  1857 — Charles  Francis  Adams's  Letter  to  Sydney 
Brooks  in  Regard  to  President  Johnson's  Message,  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury's  Report — Mr.  Gladstone's  Remarks— President  Johnson's  First 
Message. 

THE  views  which  I  presented  in  my  Fort  Wayne  address, 
and  at  length  in  my  annual  reports  upon  the  currency, 
were  also  favorably  regarded  when  first  presented.  In  my 
first  report  I  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  legal-tender  notes 
were  issued  as  a  war  measure,  and  as  a  war  measure  only ; 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  one  of  limited 
and  defined  powers  ;  that  the  authority  to  issue  notes  as  money 
was  neither  expressly  given  to  Congress,  nor  fairly  inferable 
from  the  powers  actually  granted ;  that  the  authority  of  Con 
gress  to  issue  obligations  for  a  circulating  medium  as  money 
could  only  be  found  in  an  unwritten  law,  which  sanctions 
whatever  may  be  done  by  the  national  legislature  for  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  national  life ;  that  a  permanent  government 
circulation  would  be  in  the  way  of  public  economy,  and  would 
give  to  the  party  in  power  the  means  of  perpetuating  its  con 
trol  of  the  Government ;  that  what  the  country  needed  for  a 
paper  circulating  medium  was  not  United  States  notes,  the 
amount  of  which  might  depend  upon  the  temporary  necessities 
of  the  treasury,  or  party  interests — but  a  currency  that  might 
be  expanded  or  diminished  according  to  the  demands  of  trade, 
and  which  could  and  would  be  supplied  by  the  national  banks. 


CONTRACTION  OF  THE  CURRENCY.          211 

After  exhausting  all  the  arguments  I  could  command  against 
the  continued  issue  of  legal-tender  notes,  I  recommended  that 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be  authorized  to  sell  United 
States  bonds,  and  with  the  proceeds  of  sales  gradually  to  retire 
the  legal-tender  notes  from  circulation.  So  favorably  was  the 
recommendation  received  that,  on  the  18th  of  December,  the 
following  resolution  was  adopted  in  the  House,  by  the  decisive 
vote  of  1-M  to  6, — to  wit :  "  Resolved,  That  this  House  cor 
dially  concurs  in  the  view  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
relation  to  the  necessity  of  a  contraction  of  the  currency,  with 
a  view  to  as  early  a  resumption  of  specie  payments  as  the  busi 
ness  interests  of  the  country  will  permit ;  and  we  hereby 
pledge  co-operative  action  to  this  end  as  speedily  as  practica 
ble."  Nothing,  however,  in  this  direction  was  done  until 
April,  1866,  when  an  act  was  passed  that  ten  millions  of  dol 
lars  of  the  United  States  notes  should  be  cancelled  within  six 
months  from  the  passage  of  the  act,  and  not  more  thereafter 
than  four  millions  of  dollars  in  any  one  month. 

This  was  not  what  I  wanted,  for  I  knew  there  would  be 
months  in  which  much  more  than  four  millions  could  be  with 
drawn  without  affecting  the  market ;  and  other  months  when 
the  withdrawal  of  a  much  smaller  amount  would  cause  con 
siderable  stringency.  What  I  did  want  was  authority  to  retire 
the  legal-tender  notes  as  rapidly  as  it  could  be  be  done,  with 
out  affecting  injuriously  industry  and  trade.  I  did,  however, 
the  best  I  could  under  the  act  to  bring  about  what  I  thought 
the  best  interests  of  the  country  required.  While  in  no  month 
were  more  than  four  millions  of  dollars  withdrawn  and  can 
celled,  there  were  some  months  in  which  a  less  amount,  or  none, 
was  withdrawn.  The  whole  amount  of  United  States  notes 
retired  and  cancelled  before,  in  obedience  to  what  seemed  to 
be  the  public  sentiment,  further  reduction  was  prohibited  by 
Congress,  was,  if  I  lightly  recollect,  forty-eight  millions  of 
dollars,  and  so  little  did  this  reduction  of  the  amount  in  cir 
culation  affect  the  markets,  that  no  one  outside  of  the  depart- 


212     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ment  \vould  have  known  that  what  was  called  contraction 
was  going  on  but  for  the  monthly  published  statements  of  the 
condition  of  the  treasury.  It  was  an  unreasonable  apprehen 
sion  of  what  might  be  the  effect  of  this  contraction,  rather 
than  what  it  was,  that  raised  the  outcry  against  it. 

This  fact  was  illustrated  by  an  incident  which  caused  some 
merriment  in  the  treasurer's  office.  Every  day  (except  Sun 
days)  for  nearly  four  years  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Vandyck,  the 
Assistant  Treasurer  at  New  York  (an  admirable  officer  he  was), 
and  he  wrote  to  me,  so  that  I  was  kept  constantly  advised  of 
the  condition  and  feeling  of  Wall  Street,  the  grand  centre  of 
financial  influence.  One  day  I  received  a  letter  from  him 
informing  me  that  the  market  was  becoming  tight,  and  that  he 
feared  there  would  be  a  panic  if  the  monthly  report,  which  was 
to  be  prepared  and  published  the  next  day,  exhibited  the  usual 
monthly  reduction  of  the  volume  of  United  States  notes. 
Early  the  next  morning  I  received  a  telegram  to  the  same 
effect.  We  were  just  then  in  the  midst  of  the  work  of  fund 
ing  the  seven-and -three-tenths  notes,  which  would  be  seriously 
interrupted  by  a  Wall  Street  panic ;  so  I  sent  for  the  Treas 
urer,  General  Spinner,  and  showed  to  him  the  letter  and  tele 
gram.  "Have  you,"  I  asked,  "the  $4,000,000  of  United 
States  notes  which  were  to  be  retired  and  cancelled  this 
month?"  "I  have,"  he  replied.  "Has  the  account  with  the 
United  States  notes  been  credited  with  the  amount  ? "  "  It 
has  not."  "  Keep  them,"  I  said,  "  in  the  treasury,  with  the 
other  currency  on  hand,  so  that  the  report  will  not  show  any 
reduction  for  the  month."  This  was  done,  and  when  the  regu 
lar  monthly  report,  which  was  published  the  next  day,  showed 
no  reduction  of  the  volume  of  these  notes,  although  the  four 
millions  were  in  the  treasury  vaults,  Wall  Street  was  relieved, 
and  all  indications  of  a  stringent  money  market  disappeared. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  all  of  the  United  States  notes  might 
have  been  gradually  withdrawn  from  circulation  without 
prejudice  to  legitimate  business.  For  more  than  fifty  years  I 


CRISES   AND   THE   CIRCULATION.  213 

have  been  a  careful  observer  of  the  course  of  trade  and  the 
general  range  of  prices  in  the  United  States,  and  of  the  causes 
which  have  affected  the  market  value  of  our  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  productions.  I  have  known  prices  to  be 
advanced  by  foreign  demand,  or  by  temporary  deficiency  of 
supply,  but  more  frequently  by  speculation,  induced  and  fos 
tered  by  redundant  currency.  I  have  known  prices  to  decline 
bv  the  reaction  of  speculation,  and  by  diminutions  of  the 
home  or  foreign  demands,  but  I  have  never  known  our  farm 
products  or  manufactured  goods  to  fail  to  bring  what  they 
were  worth,  at  home  or  abroad,  by  reason  of  insufficient  sup 
ply  of  money  or  of  its  representatives.  Nevertheless,  there  is 
scarcely  anything  that  the  people  more  desire  than  an  abun 
dant  circulating  medium,  no  matter  what  may  be  its  intrinsic 
value,  if  it  answer  the  purpose  of  money  ;  or  more  dread  than 
a  contraction  of  the  supply.  The  policy  of  retiring  the  United 
States  notes,  even  when  they  were  at  a  heavy  discount,  was 
never  popular  with  the  masses,  and  the  opposition  to  it 
became  so  strong  that  it  was  discontinued  when  the  reduction 
reached  the  amount  I  have  named. 

These  notes  are  now,  nominally  at  least,  redeemable  in 
gold ;  they  have  been  declared  by  the  Supreme  Court  to  be 
lawful  money ;  they  are  the  most  popular  currency  which  has 
been  known,  and  consequently  the  amount  now  in  circulation 
will  never  be  reduced ;  on  the  contrary,  there  will  be  an 
increase  whenever  the  people  demand  it.  The  amount  was 
increased  some  eighteen  or  twenty  millions  in  1873,  by  what 
was  called  a  re-issue  of  notes  which  had  been  redeemed  and 
cancelled  by  the  authority  of  Congress  many  years  before. 
This  so-called  re-issue,  which  was,  in  fact,  an  over-issue,  was 
expected  to  check  the  financial  crisis,  which,  commencing  in 
New  York  on  what  was  called  Black  Friday,  was  spread  ing- 
over  the  country ;  but  it  was  powerless  even  to  abate  the  vio 
lence  of  the  storm  which  had  been  long  gathering  below  the 
financial  horizon. 


214  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

As  I  have  mentioned  the  name  of  General  Spinner,  I  must 
say  something  more  about  him.  lie  was  appointed  United 
States  Treasurer  in  1861,  when  the  treasury  was  in  the  condi 
tion  I  have  described  ;  when  the  business  of  the  office  could 
have  been  properly  performed  by  a  dozen  competent  clerks. 
It  grew  to  its  present  magnificent  proportions  while  he  was 
Treasurer.  A  more  trustworthy,  conscientious,  upright  man, 
than  Francis  E.  Spinner  never  held  an  office  under  this 
Government,  or  any  other.  Until  I  knew  him,  I  had  not  met 
a  man  with  more  disposition  or  capacity  for  hard  work  than 
myself.  In  General  Spinner,  I  found  in  this  respect,  as  well 
as  in  many  others,  my  superior.  He  worked  constantly  from 
nine  to  ten  hours  a  day,  and  when  business  was  unusually 
pressing,  his  working  hours  were  extended  to  from  twelve  to 
fifteen.  He  liked  the  place,  was  familiar  with  its  business  to 
the  minutest  detail,  and  he  ought  to  have  remained  in  it  until 
lie  was  no  longer  able  to  perform  its  duties.  His  name  should 
.•be  inscribed  high  in  the  roll  of  honor  for  meritorious  services 
at  a  time  when  the  Government  was  greatly  in  need  of  such 
services  as  he  was  able  to  render,  and  heartily  rendered.  His 
resignation  wras  caused  by  a  disagreement  between  himself 
and  the  Secretary  about  appointments  to  his  bureau.  As  he 
was  a  bonded  officer,  he  thought,  and  correctly,  that  he  should 
control  the  appointment  of  clerks  for  whose  acts  he  was 
responsible.  He  did  control  them  when  I  was  Secretary,  as 
he  did  under  Mr.  Fessenden  and  Mr.  Chase. 

It  must  not  be  understood  from  anything  I  have  said  that 
I  have  not  observed  financial  troubles  that  were  not  caused  by 
excessive  issue  of  paper  currency.  They  have  sometimes  been 
caused  by  an  improper  use  of  individual  credit,  but  they  have 
invariably  followed  imprudent  speculation,  superinduced  by 
the  one  or  the  other.  The  first  mania  for  speculation  of 
which  I  have  any  knowledge  occurred  some  fifty-five  years 
ago,  in  Maine,  when  there  was  no  expansion  of  the  currency. 
Speculation  in  Maine  !  think  of  it,  ye  dwellers  in  the  sunny 


SPECULATION    IN    MAINE.  215 

South,  who  look  upon  Maine  as  a  hyperborean  region,  where  in 
winter  there  is  no  day — in  summer  no  night !  It  was  even  so. 
The  wildest  speculation  that  has  ever  prevailed  in  any  part  of 
the  United  States,  was  in  the  timber  lands  of  Maine.  In  1832, 
or  about  that  time  (I  am  not  precise  as  to  dates  when  precis 
ion  in  this  respect  is  of  no  importance),  it  became  known  to 
people  in  Massachusetts,  that  a  good  deal  of  money  was  being 
made  by  a  few  investors  in  the  Maine  timber  lands.  A  large 
part  of  Maine  was  then  covered  by  a  magnificent  forest  chiefly 
of  pine  trees,  and  the  lands  upon  which  they  stood  were 
rapidly  becoming  valuable ;  their  value,  however,  being 
mainly  dependent  upon  their  contiguity  to  streams  that  were 
large  enough  to  float  logs  to  the  mills,  which  were  near  navi 
gable  waters.  These  lands  were  offered  for  sale  by  the  State 

O  v 

at  very  low  prices,  and  those  who  bought  early  and  judiciously 
did  make  what  were  then  considered  large  fortunes  by  their 
investments.  It  was  not  long  before  reports  of  their  gains 
went  out  from  the  neighborhood  to  which  they  had  been  con 
fined,  and,  as  is  usual  with  such  reports,  they  were  magnified 
as  they  were  repeated,  until  almost  everybody  in  New 
England  who  heard  them  was  seized  with  a  desire  to  specu 
late  in  Maine  lands. 

The  desire  soon  became  so  strong,  and  the  excitement  so 
great,  that  a  courier  line  was  established  between  Boston  and 
Bangor,  by  which  orders  first  to  buy,  and  subsequently  to  sell, 
were  rapidly  transmitted,  and  for  months  little  was  talked 
about  but  Maine  lands.  Brokers'  offices  were  opened  in 
Bangor,  which  were  crowded  from  morning  till  night,  and  fre 
quently  far  into  the  night,  by  buyers  and  sellers.  All  were 
jubilant,  because  all,  whether  buyers  or  sellers,  were  getting 
rich.  Not  one  in  fifty  knew  anything  about  the  lands  he  was 
buying,  nor  did  he  care  to  know  as  long  as  he  could  sell  at 
a  profit.  Lands  bought  one  day  were  sold  the  next  day  at  a 
large  advance.  Buyers  in  the  morning  were  sellers  in  the 
afternoon.  The  same  lands  were  bought  and  sold  over  and 


216     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

over  again,  until  lands  which  had  been  bought  originally  for 
a  few  cents  per  acre,  were  sold  for  half  as  many  dollars.  As 
is  always  the  case  when  speculation  is  rampant,  and  inexperi 
enced  men  (lambs  they  are  called  in  Wall  Street)  become 
speculators,  dishonesty  was  in  the  ascendant.  In  the  interest 
of  large  holders,  maps  were  prepared,  on  which  lands  were 
represented  as  lying  upon  water  courses  which  were  scores  of 
miles  away  from  them.  The  speculative  fever  centred  in 
Bangor,  but  ran  high  in  Boston  and  the  neighboring  towns. 
On  a  small  scale  the  mania  resembled  that  which  convulsed 
England  near  the  end  of  the  last  century,  when  the  worthless 
one-pound  shares  of  "John  Law's  Company  of  the  Indies" 
(the  South  Sea  Bubble  it  was  called  after  it  collapsed)  went 
up  day  by  day  until  they  were  sold  at  forty. 

It  happened  strangely  enough  that  the  largest  losers  in 
this  Maine  land  speculation  were  prudent  men  who  kept 
aloof  from  it  until  it  had  reached  the  highest  point,  and  the 
tide  was  ready  to  turn.  They  listened  contemptuously  to  the 
early  reports  which  were  in  circulation  of  the  wealth  which 
some  of  their  neighbors  had  suddenly  acquired  ;  but  as  report 
confirmed  report,  their  prudence  gave  way,  and  they  deter 
mined  to  make  up  by  large  purchases  what  they  had  lost  by 
delay.  I  heard  of  the  following  occurrence  which  I  will 
relate,  as  it  shows  how  the  game  was  sometimes  played.  A 
company  of  men  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  who  were  sup 
posed  to  have  made  a  good  deal  of  money  by  operations  in 
these  lands,  offered  to  some  of  their  neighbors  a  large  tract,  at 
what  they  said  was  a  low  price.  These  neighbors  were  pru 
dent  men,  who  although  inclined  to  take  a  hand  in  what  was 
going  on,  were  not  disposed  to  buy,  as  the  boys  swapped 
knives,  "  sight  unseen."  So  they  employed  an  agent  to 
examine  the  land  before  accepting  the  offer.  The  day  after 
the  agent  reached  Bangor,  a  man  of  agreeable  address  was 
introduced  to  him  as  a  large  operator  in  lands,  with  whom  he 
had  a  free  and  pleasant  conversation,  in  the  course  of  which 


BASIS    OF   THE   GAMBLING    FABKIC.  217 

the  stranger  inquired  if  he  knew  the  owners  of  a  tract  of  land 
(the  very  tract  that  the  agent  had  come  to  examine)  which  lie 
was  anxious  to  get  hold  of,  and  for  which,  if  it  could  be 
obtained  within  a  couple  of  weeks,  he  would  pay  a  certain 
price  per  acre,  naming  a  much  larger  price  than  it  had  been 
offered  at  to  his  employers.  The  agent  did  not  give  the 
stranger  the  desired  information,  but  he  thought  that  as  delay 
might  be  dangerous,  he  ought  to  spend  no  time  in  examining 
the  land,  and  the  next  day  he  was  on  his  way  back  to  Worces 
ter,  lie  reported  to  his  employers  immediately  upon  his 
arrival,  and  advised  them  to  buy.  II is  advice  was  followed. 
The  land  was  purchased,  and  in  a  few  days  the  agent  was  in 
Bangor  again  with  authority  to  sell.  To  his  dismay  the 
stranger  had  disappeared,  and  his  whereabouts  were  unknown 
to  the  proprietor  of  the  hotel,  and  to  everybody  else  of  whom 
inquiry  was  made.  It  was  a  well-concocted  swindle.  The 
land  was  found  to  be  well  timbered,  but  it  was  far  distant 
from  any  stream  large  enough  to  float  logs,  and  it  coultl  not 
be  sold  for  a  quarter  of  the  price  that  had  been  paid  for  it. 

I  have  referred  to  this  speculation  in  the  timbered  lands  of 
Maine — the  wildest  and  most  disastrous  to  most  of  those  who 
were  engaged  in  it,  that  had  ever  been  witnessed  in  the  United 
States — because  I  was  greatly  interested  in  it  while  it  was  in 
progress,  and  because  it  shows  that  there  may  be  speculation 
which  is  neither  caused  nor  fostered  by  excessive  currency. 
At  that  time  the  circulating  medium  was  specie  and  bank 
notes,  the  supply  of  which  was  very  limited.  Personal  obli 
gations  became,  therefore,  the  medium  of  exchange,  and  were 
freely  given,  and  as  freely  taken.  Purchases  and  sales  were 
made  chiefly  upon  credit.  Very  little  money  was  handled  in 
the  transactions,  whether  large  or  small.  It  was  upon  promis 
sory  notes  that  the  gambling  fabric  rested,  and  when  the 
explosion  took  place,  it  was  these  promissory  notes,  for  which 
nothing  available  for  their  payment  had  been  received,  that 
brought  ruin  to  many  hundreds  of  households.  Of  the  two 


218  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

evils — excessive  circulation  of  paper  money,  and  excessive  use 
of  personal  credit — the  former  is  the  lesser,  but  both  lead  in 
the  same  direction — to  dangerous  enterprises ;  to  efforts  to 
make  money  rapidly,  and  not  by  persistent  industry ;  to  specu 
lation  ;  to  panics.  In  all  the  great  and  wide-spread  financial 
troubles  that  have  come  upon  the  country,  the  two  have  been 
united.  Those  of  1873  I  have  already  spoken  of.  The  follow 
ing  is  a  part  of  what  I  said  of  that  of  1837  and  1857  in  my 
first  report : 

"The  great  expansion  of  1835  and  1836,  ending  with  the 
terrible  financial  collapse  of  1837,  from  the  effects  of  which  the 
country  did  not  rally  for  years,  was  the  consequence  of  exces 
sive  bank  circulation  and  discounts,  and  an  abuse  of  the  credit 
system,  stimulated  in  the  first  place  by  Government  deposits 
with  the  State  banks,  and  swelled  by  currency  and  credits 
until,  under  the  wild  spirit  of  speculation  which  invaded  the 
country,  labor  and  production  decreased  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  country,  which  should  have  been  the  great  food-pro 
ducing  country  of  the  world,  became  an  importer  of  bread- 
stuffs. 

';  The  balance  of  trade  had  been  for  a  long  time  favorable 
to  Europe  and  against  the  United  States,  and  also  in  favor  of 
the  commercial  cities  along  the  sea-board  and  against  the 
interior,  but  a  vicious  system  of  credits  prevented  the  prompt 
settlement  of  balances.  The  importers  established  large  credits 
abroad,  by  means  of  which  they  were  enabled  to  give  favor 
able  terms  to  jobbers.  The  jobbers  in  turn  were  thus,  and  by 
liberal  accommodations  from  the  banks,  able  to  give  their  own 
time  to  country  merchants,  who,  in  turn,  sold  to  their  custom 
ers  on  indefinite  credit.  It  seemed  to  be  more  reputable  to 
borrow  money  than  to  earn  it,  and  pleasanter,  and  apparently 
more  profitable  to  speculate  than  to  work ;  and  so  people  ran 
headlong  into  debt,  labor  decreased,  production  fell  off,  and 
ruin  followed. 

"  The  financial  crisis  of  1857  was  the  result  of  a  similar 
cause,  namely,  the  unhealthy  extension  of  the  various  forms 
of  credit.  But,  as  in  this  case  the  evil  had  not  been  long  at 
work,  and  productive  industry  had  not  been  seriously  dimin 
ished,  the  reaction,  though  sharp  and  destructive,  was  not 
general,  nor  were  the  embarrassments  resulting  from  it  pro 
tracted." 


RECEPTION    OF   FIRST   REPORT.  219 

Credits  on  the  one  hand,  debts  on  the  other — and  it  is  their 
undue  extension,  no  matter  whether  it  be  by  the  Government, 
or  corporations,  or  individuals,  that  produce  financial  troubles, 
the  severity  of  which  can  be  measured  by  the  extent  of  the 
cause.  These  troubles  will  come  upon  all  free  and  enterpris 
ing  nations.  They  have  been  and  they  will  continue  to  be 
most  frequent  in  this  country,  because  there  are  more  freedom 
and  enterprise  here  than  in  any  other  nation.  All  that  can  be 
required  of  the  Government  is  that  it  should  do  nothing  to 
bring  them  about  by  the  issue  of  its  own  notes,  or  by  lowering 
the  standard  of  value. 

No  head  of  one  of  our  great  departments  ever  prepared 
his  first  repoi-t  to  Congress  without  being  anxious  about  the 
manner  in  which  it  might  be  received.  I  recollect  how  Mr. 
Fessenden,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  facile  writers  of  the  day, 
was  troubled  about  his.  In  my  case,  there  was  cause  for  spe 
cial  anxiety.  I  was  not,  like  Mr.  Fessenden,  a  practised  writer, 
and  as  the  war  had  been  ended,  it  was  my  duty  (as  I  thought) 
to  present  my  views  in  regard  to  what  should  be  the  action  of 
Congress  upon  the  important  questions — currency  and  debt — 
which  demanded  prompt  and  careful  consideration.  The 
report  was  written  in  my  house  at  night  after  hard  days'  work 
in  the  department.  I  lacked  time  to  condense  it,  and  I  was 
disgusted  with  it  when  it  was  finished  and  sent  to  the  printers. 
I  was  therefore  surprised  and  gratified  by  the  general  favor 
with  which  it  was  received.  Scores  of  letters,  from  strangers 

o 

as  well  as  friends,  came  to  me  daily  for  weeks,  strongly  com 
mending  it.  It  was  very  favorably  noticed  and  commented  on 
by  the  leading  journals  in  the  United  States,  and  also  by  the 
English.  The  London  Times  reviewed  it  at  length,  and  pro 
nounced  it  very  able. 

But  none  of  the  compliments  which  I  received  pleased  me 
so  much  as  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  under  date  of 
May  4,  1866,  from  our  Minister  to  England,  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  to  his  brother-in-law,  Sidney  Brooks.  I  copy  it  be- 


220     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

cause  it  is  complimentary  to  Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  rarely 
complimented  after  he  became  President. 

"  The  annual  message,  and  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  raised  the  character  of  the  nation  immensely  in 
Europe ;  I  know  of  nothing  better  in  the  annals  e\7en  when 
Washington  was  chief  and  Hamilton  his  financier." 

All  of  my  reports  were  well  received,  but  the  only  one  that 
I  was  satisfied  with  was  that  of  1867.  It  certainly  did  not 
merit  the  praise  which  it  received,  but  upon  reading  it  care 
fully,  twenty  years  after  it  was  written,  I  do  not  see  anything 
that  I  Avoukl  expunge. 

In  speaking  in  the  House  of  Commons  of  my  report  of 
1866,  and  of  my  administration  of  the  treasury,  Mr.  Gladstone 
used  the  following  language:  ''Let  us  not  be  ashamed  to  fol 
low  a  good  example  whenever  we  may  find  it,  or  to  render  a 
just  tribute  of  admiration  to  the  courage  and  forethought  of 
the  American  people,  who  are  at  this  moment  braving  a  large 
burden  of  taxation,  both  in  its  amount  and  kind,  which  makes 
their  conduct  a  marvel  because  they  believe  that  the  true 
secret  of  their  future  power  lies  in  the  steady  and  rapid  reduc 
tion  of  their  debt.  I  am  sure  the  prevailing  sentiment  of 
the  House  will  be  to  convey  to  the  American  people,  to  the 
authorities  there,  and  to  the  able  and  enlightened  Minister  of 
Finance  (Mr.  McCulloch)  our  hearty  congratulations  and  our 
best  wishes  that  he  may  long  continue  to  apply  the  same 
vigorous  and  prudent  hand  in  thus  wisely  administering  the 
resources  of  his  country." 

President  Johnson's  first  message,  to  which  Mr.  Adams 
referred  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Brooks,  was  an  admirable  paper. 
It  was  written  before  the  President  had  wandered  so  far  from 
right  thought  as  to  express  the  opinion,  as  he  afterwards  did, 
that  the  holders  of  the  United  States  bonds  ought  not  to 
receive  in  payment  thereof  any  more  than  the  Government 
received  for  them  in  real  money  ;  that  inasmuch  as  the  bonds 
had  been  paid  for  in  notes,  which,  measured  by  gold,  were  not 


JOHNSON'S  FINANCIAL  EKKOK.  221 

worth  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  of  their  face  value,  the  pay 
ment  of  the  interest  for  sixteen  years  ought  to  extinguish  the 
principal.  In  expressing  this  opinion  the  President  not  only 
indicated  disregard  of  the  obligations  of  contracts,  but  he 
overlooked  the  fact  that  when  these  bonds  were  subscribed 
and  paid  for,  the  Government  was  engaged  in  a  civil  war  the 
result  of  which  was  by  no  means  certain,  and  that  investments 
in  them  were  regarded  rather  as  an  evidence  of  loyalty  than 
of  business  sagacity. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln — Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  Morning  of  the  Assassina 
tion — Attempted  Assassination  of  Mr.  Seward — Execution  of  some  of  the 
Assassins  and  of  Mrs.  Surratt — Indications  of  a  Panic  in  Wall  Street — The 
Iron-clad  Oath — President's  Message  transmitting  Letter  of  Secretary  of 
Treasury,  asking  Modification  thereof — Senators  Sherman  and  Sumner's 
Remarks  thereon — Sumner's  Character  and  Appearance — Captured  and 
Abandoned  Property — Difficulty  in  Executing  the  Law — Wm.  E.  Chand 
ler  Assistant  Secretary — His  valuable  Services — John  Hartley— Revenue 
Commissioners  David  A.  Wells,  Stephen  Colwell,  S.  S.  Hayes — Mr.  Wells 
Sole  Commissioner. 

THE  rejoicings  of  the  people  of  the  loyal  States  over  the  end 
of  the  war  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union  were  sud 
denly  changed  into  the  deepest  sorrow  by  the  assassination  of 
Mr.  Lincoln. 

I  never  saw  Mr.  Lincoln  so  cheerful  and  happy  as  he  was 
on  the  day  of  his  death.  The  burden  which  had  been  weighing 
upon  him  for  four  long  years,  and  which  lie  had  borne  with 
heroic  fortitude,  had  been  lifted ;  the  war  had  been  practically 
ended ;  the  Union  was  safe.  The  weary  look  which  his  face 
had  so  long  worn,  and  which  could  be  observed  by  those  who 
knew  him  well,  even  when  he  was  telling  humorous  stories, 
had  disappeared.  It  was  bright  and  cheerful.  As  he  took  me  by 
the  hand  when  I  was  about  to  leave  the  AVhite  House,  he  said  : 
We  must  look  to  you,  Mr.  Secretary,  for  the  money  to  pay 
off  the  soldiers."  "  I  shall  look  to  the  people,"  I  replied ; 
"  they  have  not  failed  us  thus  far,  and  I  don't  think  they  will 
now."  A  few  hours  after  I  saw  him  unconscious  and  dying. 

In  the  evening  of  the  13th  of  April,  1865, 1  had  just  gone  to 
ray  sleeping-room  when  I  was  startled  by  a  knocking  at  the 
door,  and  the  cry,  "  Mr.  Seward  has  been  murdered  !  "  Almost 
at  the  same  instant  there  was  a  more  violent  knocking,  and  as 


LINCOLN'S  ASSASSINATION.  223 

I  opened  the  door,  I  met  Mr.  Walker,  the  photographer  of 
the  Treasury  Department,  so  breathless  from  running  that  he 
could  hardly  utter  the  \vords  :  "  The  President  has  been  shot 
at  the  theatre."  My  lodgings  were  in  one  of  the  Cass 
houses,  no\v  a  part  of  the  Arlington  Hotel,  not  more  than  a 
stone's  throw  from  the  house  occupied  by  Mr.  Seward,  to 
which  I  immediately  ran.  The  outside  door  was  open,  and  I 
saw  no  one  as  I  went  up  the  stairs  and  through  the  hall  to  Mr. 
Seward's  sleeping-room,  except  Mrs.  Frederick  Seward,  who 
was  just  entering  another  room,  to  attend  as  I  heard  after 
wards,  upon  her  husband,  whose  skull  had  been  fractured  by  a 
blow  from  her  father-in-law's  assailant,  whom  he  had  met  at 
the  head  of  the  stairs  and  tried  to  arrest.  As  I  entered  Mr. 
Seward's  room,  Miss  Seward  left  it,  and  I  was  for  a  minute  or 
two  alone  with  her  father.  He  had  been  raised  from  the  floor, 
upon  which  he  had  thrown  himself  in  his  efforts  to  escape  the 
murderous  blows  that  had  been  aimed  at  him,  and  he  lay  on 
his  blood-stained  bed,  with  his  wounds  still  bleeding.  As  I 
took  his  hand  he  opened  his  eyes,  and  seemed  to  recognize  me, 
but  he  immediately  closed  them  again,  and  became  apparently 
unconscious.  His  wounds  were  ghastly,  but  they  did  not  seem 
to  be  fatal.  His  breathing  was  regular,  and  his  pulse  was  full 
and  strong.  Some  days  before  he  had  been  thrown  from  his 
carriage  and  his  jaw  had  been  fractured.  To  keep  the  bones 
in  place,  an  elastic  wire  bandage  had  been  placed  upon  one 
side  of  his  face,  extending  down  to  the  throat.  This  bandage 
prevented  at  least  one  of  the  blows  of  his  powerful  assailant 
from  being  a  death  blow.  It  was  aimed  at  the  throat,  but  the 
bowie  knife,  although  wielded  by  a  strong  hand,  was  diverted 
when  it  struck  the  bandage,  and  failed  to  inflict  a  deadly 
wound.  The  life  of  Mr.  Seward  was,  however,  saved  by  his 
army  nurse,  George  F.  Robinson,  who  was  in  attendance  upon 
him.  As  the  assassin  entered  the* room,  and,  knife  in  hand, 
was  rushing  to  the  bed  upon  which  his  intended  victim  was 
lying,  the  servant,  although  greatly  inferior  in  strength,  seized 


224     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

hold  of  his  left  arm,  and  prevented  him  from  using  his  right 
arm  with  its  full  force.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Seward  had  thrown 
himself  from  the  bed  to  the  floor,  the  assassin  turned  upon 
Robinson,  gave  him  a  staggering  blow,  dashed  through  the 
hall  and  down  the  stairs,  and  in  a  moment  he  was  on  the 
horse  which  he  had  left  standing  by  the  sidewalk,  and  was 
away.  Some  days  after,  he  was  arrested  in  the  house 
of  Mrs.  Surratt,  which  he  had  entered  disguised  as  a 
laborer. 

As  soon  as  a  surgeon  and  one  or  two  friends  of  Mr. 
Seward  entered  the  room,  I  left  it  to  learn  the  fate  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  I  had  not  gone  far  towards  the  White  House  before 
I  met  a  number  of  men  who  told  me  that  he  was  not  there. 
I  then  ran  down  the  Avenue  to  F  Street,  down  F  to  Tenth 
Street,  and  thence  to  the  theatre,  around  which  a  large  crowd 
had  gathered,  through  which  I  pushed  my  way  to  a  house 
opposite  the  theatre,  into  which  I  heard  that  he  had  been  car 
ried,  and  presently  I  was  at  the  bedside  of  the  dying  Presi 
dent.  Mr.  Stanton,  Mr.  Wells,  Mr.  Dennison,  and  Mr.  Speed, 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  were  already  there.  Surgeon-Gene 
ral  Barnes,  General  Meigs,  Mr.  Sumner,  and  a  number  of  other 
friends  of  the  President,  were  also  present.  The  death-like 
paleness  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  upturned  face,  his  stertorous  breath 
ing,  and  the  grief -stricken  countenances  of  the  men  around 
him,  indicated  too  clearly  as  I  entered  the  room  that  his  case 
was  hopeless.  All  night  we  stood  or  sat  silent  by  his  bed 
side.  Not  a  word  was  spoken  except  by  Mr.  Stanton,  who 
in  undertones  gave  directions  through  messengers  to  army 
officers  to  guard  the  exits  from  the  city,  to  prevent,  if  it  might 
be  possible,  the  escape  of  the  assassins.  Once  only  was  the 
impressive  silence  broken,  when  Mrs.  Lincoln  came  in,  and, 
kneeling  by  the  bed,  and  clasping  a  hand  of  her  unconscious 
husband,  gave  vent  to  her  irrepressible  grief  in  tones  that 
pierced  every  heart,  and  brought  tears  to  every  eye.  When 
she  was  led  away,  silence  again  prevailed,  and  it  continued 


THE   CASE   OF   MRS.  SURRATT.  225 

unbroken  until  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  the  death 
shade  came  over  his  face,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  at  rest. 

It  had  been  a  sleepless  night  in  Washington.  The  theatre 
in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  shot  was  well  filled,  and  conse 
quently  there  were  hundreds  to  spread  the  shocking  tidings 
throughout  the  city.  Houses  were  deserted  ;  women  as  well 
as  men  flocked  to  the  streets,  but  there  was  little  heard  except 
the  tramp  of  feet  in  the  crowded  thoroughfares.  The  feeling 
was  too  deep  for  noisy  expression.  But  I  need  not  dwell  upon 
a  scene  which  has  been  frequently  described  by  other  pens. 
John  Wilkes  Booth,  the  assassin  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  small  bone 
of  one  of  his  legs  having  been  broken  as  he  leaped  from  the  box 
occupied  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  stage,  and  who  must  have  suf 
fered  almost  unbearable  agony  in  his  efforts  to  escape,  was 
shot  by  one  of  his  pursuers.  Lewis  Paine,  the  assailant  of 
Mr.  Seward,  David  E.  Harrold,  George  A.  Adzerodt,  Mary  E. 
Surratt,  Samuel  A.  Mudd,  Michael  O'Laughlin,  Edward  Span 
gle,  and  Samuel  II.  Arnold  were  tried  by  a  military  commis 
sion  for  conspiracy  and  murder.  Paine,  Harrold,  Adzerodt, 
and  Mrs.  Surratt  were  found  guilty  of  murder  and  condemned 
to  die.  Mudd,  Arnold  and  O'Laughlin  were  found  guilty  of 
conspiracy,  and  were  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life ;  Span- 
gler  to  imprisonment  for  six  years.  The  finding  of  the  court 
was  approved  by  the  President,  on  the  sixth  of  July,  and  those 
who  were  condemned  to  die  were  executed  the  very  next  day, 
Mrs.  Surratt  having  pleaded  in  vain  fcr  a  respite  of  a  fe\v  days. 
After  her  execution,  there  was  a  general  feeling  of  regret  that 
her  punishment  had  not  been  commuted  from  death  to  impris 
onment.  The  evidence  on  which  she  was  convicted  would  not 
have  satisfied  an  impartial  jury.  Her  complicity  in  the  assas 
sination  was  not  clearly  proven,  and  the  sternest  justice  in  her 
case  would  have  been  satisfied  with  a  lesser  punishment.  The 
most  pitiful  object  that  I  ever  beheld  was  the  prostrate  form 
of  Miss  Surratt  (who  was  said  to  be  an  amiable  and  accom 
plished  young  lady),  upon  the  main  staircase  of  the  Executive 

15 


MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

Mansion,  in  the  morning  of  the  day  of  her  mother's  execution. 
She  had  come  to  plead  for  her  mother's  life,  and  having 
failed  to  obtain  admission  to  the  President,  she  had  fainted 
in  descending  the  stairs.  There  was,  I  am  sure,  no  founda 
tion  for  the  report,  which  many  believed,  that  Mr.  Stanton's 
life  was  shortened  by  remorse  for  his  agency  in  the  prosecu 
tion  and  execution  of  Mrs.  Surratt ;  but  I  know  that  President 
Johnson  deeply  regretted  that  he  did  not  favorably  consider 
the  petitions  that  were  made  for  a  commutation  of  her  pun 
ishment,  and  that  he  especially  regretted  that  he  ordered  the 
Avrit  of  habeas  corpus,  issued  by  Judge  Wiley,  on  the  morning 
of  her  execution,  to  be  disregarded.  The  facts  that  the  trial 
was  before  a  military  commission,  months  after  the  war  was 
ended;  that  the  male  criminals  were  manacled  during  the 
trial ;  that  from  those  (with  the  exception  of  Mrs.  Surratt) 
upon  whom  sentence  of  death  was  pronounced  the  shackles 
were  not  removed  when  they  were  executed,  indicated  how 
justice  could  be  strained  and  humanity  deadened  when  public 
vengeance  was  thoroughly  aroused. 

There  were  real  indications  of  a  panic  in  "Wall  Street  the 
next  morning  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  death,  and  fears  were 
expressed  that  there  might  be  a  real  panic,  which,  in  the  con 
dition  of  the  Treasury,  would  be  a  very  serious  matter.  A  few 
bonds  were  offered  at  some  points  below  the  market  rates  of 
the  day  before.  Through  a  trusted  agent,  they  were  pur 
chased  by  Mr.  John  A.  Stewart,  the  Assistant  Treasurer,  under 
instructions  which  I  had  given  him,  and  the  market  at  once 
resumed  a  healthy  tone.  A  few  days  after,  the  bonds  were 
disposed  of  with  a  profit  to  the  Treasury.  This  was  an  occa 
sion  when  it  would  not  have  been  safe  to  leave  the  interests  of 
the  Government  to  take  care  of  themselves  or  to  be  controlled 
by  Wall  Street.  To  meet  the  pressing  demands  upon  the 
Treasury,  a  large  amount  of  securities  were  soon  to  be  sold. 
A  panic,  therefore,  was  to  be  prevented  before  it  had  obtained 
headway,  and  it  was  prevented  by  the  prompt  and  prudent 


THE  IROX-CLAD    OATH.  227 

action  of  Mr.  Stewart.     In  one  or  two  other  cases  the  market 
was  steadied  in  the  same  way. 

When  the  war  ended,  and  it  became  necessary  to  enforce 
the  revenue  laws  in  the  Southern  States,  an  important  ques 
tion  came  up  for  decision.  The  law  required  that  all  civil 
officers  should  take  what  was  called  the  Iron-clad  Oath — an 
oath  that  they  had  not  in  any  way  or  manner  aided  the  rebell 
ion — an  oath  that  very  few  Southern  men  could  take.  The 
question  then  to  be  met  was,  Shall  this  oath  be  required  as  an 
indispensable  qualification  for  appointees  to  Southern  revenue 
offices  ?  The  same  question  arose  in  regard  to  appointments 
in  the  postal  service.  It  was  carefully  considered  at  a  Cabinet 
meeting,  and  the  conclusion  was  that  men  might  be  appointed 
who  could  not  take  the  oath  if  such  appointments  should  be 
necessary  in  order  to  establish  the  revenue  and  postal  ser 
vice  in  the  Southern  States.  On  this  point  the  Cabinet  was  a 
unit.  I  recollect  perfectly  that  Mr.  Stanton  expressed  his  opin 
ion  with  his  usual  directness.  The  Act,  he  said,  was  passed 
under  circumstances  very  different  from  those  now  existing, 
and  ought  to  be  disregarded  when  it  stood  in  the  way  of 
the  enforcement  of  the  revenue  laws,  or  even  the  restoration 
of  the  postal  service.  According  to  this  conclusion,  a  number 
of  men  were  appointed  revenue  officers  and  postmasters  in  the 
Southern  States  who  could  only  take  an  oath  for  the  faithful 
performance  of  their  duties  and  obedience  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  I  was  careful,  as  was  the  Postmaster- 
General,  Mr.  Dennison,  that  no  one  should  be  appointed  who 
could  be  justly  charged  with  having  instigated  the  rebellion. 
Upon  the  meeting  of  Congress,  an  appropriation  was  asked  to 
pay  the  appointees  for  the  services  they  had  rendered.  Objec 
tions  were  made  to  such  an  appropriation,  on  .the  ground  that 
the  appointments  had  been  in  violation  of  law,  and  a  resolution 
was  adopted  by  the  House  calling  upon  the  President  for  the 
names  of  those  who  had  been  appointed  without  taking  the 
required  oath,  and  for  the  reasons  of  their  appointment.  The 


228  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

resolution  was  referred  by  the  President  to  me  and  to  the 
Postmaster-General.  Our  replies  were  addressed  to  the  Presi 
dent,  and  by  him  were  sent  to  Congress  with  his  approval.  I 
copy  my  reply,  because  I  think,  now,  as  I  thought  then,  that  it 
stated  the  case  fairly,  and  because  it  expressed  what  I  thought 
ought  to  be  the  policy  of  the  Government  towards  the  Southern 
States : 

"  The  following  message  from  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  transmitting  communications  from  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  and  Postmaster-General,  suggesting  a  modification 
of  the  oath  of  office  prescribed  by  Congress,  approved  July  2, 
1862,  was  laid  before  the  House,  April  6, 1866 : 

"To  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES: 

"  I  herewith  transmit  communications  from  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  and  the  Postmaster-General,  suggesting  a 
modification  of  the  oath  of  office  prescribed  by  Congress, 
approved  July  2,  1862.  I  fully  concur  in  their  recommenda 
tion,  and,  as  the  subject  pertains  to  the  efficient  administration 
of  the  revenue  and  postal  laws  in  the  Southern  States,  I  ear 
nestly  commend  it  to  the  early  consideration  of  Congress. 

ANDREW  JOHNSON. 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  5,  1866. 

"  TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  March  19,  1866. 

"  SIR  :  Herewith  I  hand  you  the  names  of  collectors  of 
internal  revenue,  assessors,  assistant  assessors,  collectors  and 
surveyors  of  customs,  etc.,  etc.,  appointed  since  the  overthrow 
of  the  rebellion  in  the  Southern  States,  who  have  not  been 
able  to  take,  literally,  the  oath  of  office  prescribed  by  the  Act 
approved  July  2,  1862.  Besides  these  officers,  a  considerable 
number,  perhaps  the  larger  proportion  of  those  holding  sub 
ordinate  positions  in  the  revenue  departments,  have  been  also 
unable  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the  statute.  As  a 
consequence,  they  have  served  without  compensation,  as  their 
accounts  could  not  be  audited  by  the  accounting  officers  of  the 
Government.  Many  of  these  officers  have  performed  very 
important  duties  with  fidelity,  and  not  a  few  must  be  in  great 
distress  by  reason  of  their  inability  to  draw  their  salaries  and 
commissions. 

"  When  these  appointments  were  made,  it  was  feared  that 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  competent  officers  in  many  of  the 


CONDITION   OF   THE   SOUTH.  229 

Southern  revenue  districts  who  could  take  the  oath  referred  to, 
but  so  important  did  it  seem  to  you  and  to  your  Cabinet,  for 
the  purpose  of  equalizing  the  public  burdens,  that  the  revenue 
svstem  should  be  established  throughout  the  recently  rebel 
lious  States  with  as  little  delay  as  practicable,  and  that  the 
unpleasant  duty  of  collecting  taxes  from  an  exhausted  and 
recently  rebellious  people  should  be  performed  by  their  own 
citizens,  that  I  did  not  hesitate  to  recommend  for  appointment, 
and  you  did  not  hesitate  to  appoint,  men  of  whose  present 
loyalty  there  was  no  question,  but  who  might  have  been,  either 
willingly  or  unwillingly,  during  the  progress  of  the  rebellion, 
so  connected  with  the  insurgent  State  and  Confederate  govern 
ments  as  to  be  unable  to  take  the  oath  of  office.  This  was  not 
done  from  any  disposition  to  disregard  the  law,  but  with  an 
honest  and  sincere  purpose  of  collecting  the  revenue  with  as 
little  odium  to  the  tax-payers  as  possible. 

"  The  country  was  in  a  peculiar  condition.  The  rebellion 
had  come  to  a  "sudden  close.  All  resistance  to  the  authority 
of  the  United  States  had  ceased,  and  some  seven  millions  of 
people,  in  a  state  of  utter  disorganization,  were  left  without 
any  civil  government  whatever,  and  without  even  an  adequate 
military  protection  against  anarchy  and  violence.  Under 
these  circumstances,  as  it  seemed  to  be  clearly  the  duty  of  the 
Executive  to  proceed  at  once  to  establish  the  Federal  authority 
and  civil  government  in  these  States,  so  it  seemed  to  be  neces 
sary  to  carry  into  effect  the  revenue  laws  of  the  general 
Government.  As  the  country  was  passing  from  a  state  of 
war  to  a  state  of  peace,  and  the  emergency  seemed  to  be  too 
pressing  to  admit  of  delay  until  the  meeting  of  Congress,  it 
was  thought  that  the  Test  Oath  might,  in  view  of  the  great 
objects  to  be  attained,  in  some  cases  be  dispensed  with  ;  or 
rather,  that  persons  might  be  permitted  to  hold  revenue  offices 
who  could  take  it  only  in  a  qualified  form.  No  one  could 
have  regretted  more  than  yourself,  and  the  members  of  your 
Cabinet,  the  necessity  which  existed  for  this  course  ;  but  there 
seemed  to  be  no  alternative,  and  it  was  confidently  hoped 
that  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case  it  would  be  approved 
by  Congress. 

"  Among  those  whose  names  are  presented  to  you,  I  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  there  is  one  who  can  be  justly 
charged  with  being  instrumental  in  instigating  the  rebellion, 
although  a  few  may  have  contributed  to  its  support  and  con 
tinuance.  Some,  with  strong  attachment  for  the  Union,  had 
followed  the  States  in.  which  they  lived  into  the  war  against 
the  United  States  under  the  baleful  influence  of  the  doctrine  of 


230  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

State  Soveregnty.  Some  had  held  office  under  the  insurgent 
authorities  as  the  only  means  of  supporting  their  families  ; 
others,  to  escape  conscription,  or  to  be  in  a  better  condition  to 
resist,  at  the  proper  time,  Confederate  rule.  Not  one  is  known 
to  have  been  a  disunionist,  or  unfriendly  to  the  Government 
at  the  commencement  of  the  war.  A  very  slight  change  in 
the  oath — a  change  that  would  not  cover  a  particle  of  present 
disloyalty — would  enable  the  most  of  them  to  hold  the  offices 
they  are  now  so  acceptably  filling.  Great  loss  to  the  Govern 
ment  and  great  inconvenience  to  this  department  must  result 
from  the  discontinuance  of  their  services ;  but  it  is  due  to 
them,  unless  relief  should  be  given  to  them  at  an  early  day, 
that  they  should  be  notified  of  the  fact  that,  as  their  services 
cannot  be  legally  paid  for,  they  will  be  no  longer  required. 
At  the  same  time  I  would  respectfully  suggest,  if  it  should  be 
necessary  to  give  them  this  notice,  that  Congress  be  asked 
that  authority  be  granted  for  the  payment  of  the  salaries  and 
commissions  to  which  they  would  be  entitled  had  they  taken 
the  oath.  It  is  true,  they  were  advised  that  their  accounts 
could  not  be  audited  until  Congress  had  modified  the  oath  ; 
but  as  they  expected,  as  did  yourself  and  your  Cabinet,  a 
modification  of  it  early  in  the  session,  and  as  they  have  been 
living  and  working  in  this  hope,  it  would  seem  to  be  unjust  as 
well  as  unwise,  for  the  Government  to  decline  paying  them 
for  the  valuable  services  which  they  have  rendered. 

•'  In  regard  to  future  appointments,  I  have  to  say  that  I 
am  wrell  satisfied  that  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
find  competent  men  at  the  South  to  fill  the  revenue  offices 
who  can  qualify  under  the  statute.  Especially  will  this  be  so 
in  regard  to  the  subordinate  positions.  In  the  progress  of  the 
rebellion,  very  few  persons  of  character  and  intelligence  in 
most  of  these  States  failed  in  some  way  or  other  to  participate 
in  the  hostilities,  or  to  connect  themselves  with  the  insurgent 
government.  This  is  almost  universally  true  of  the  young 
men  who  are  expected  to  fill  clerkships  and  other  inferior 
places  in  the  revenue  service.  Men  of  the  necessary  qualifica 
tions  who  were  able  to  take  the  oath,  and  were  inclined  to 
accept  appointments,  have,  as  far  as  they  could  be  found, 
already  been  employed  by  the  Government.  For  those  offices 
that  must  soon  become  vacant,  if  Congress  should  not  deem  it 
safe  or  proper  to  modify  the  oath,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know 
where  the  right  men  are  to  be  obtained,  or  how  the  revenues 
in  many  of  the  Southern  districts  are  to  be  collected. 

"  It  is  urged,  I  know,  that  there  are  plenty  of  men  at  the 
South  who  can  comply  with  the  statute,  and,  that  if  this 


UNWISDOM    OF   SECTIONALISM.  231 

should  not  prove  to  be  the  fact,  men  at  the  North  can  be 
found  who  will  accept  prominent  offices  at  the  present  salaries, 
and  also  the  subordinate  positions,  if  the  proper  inducements 
in  the  way  of  increased  salaries  are  held  out  to  them. 

"  It  is^true  that  there  are  still  some  applicants  for  office  in 
Southern  States  who  present  what  they  call  '  a  clean  record 
for  loyalty,'  but,  with  rare  exceptions,  they  are  persons  who 
would  have  been  able  to  present  an  equally  fair  record  for 
place  under  the  Confederate  Government  if  the  rebellion  had 
been  a  success,  or  persons  lacking  the  qualifications  which  are 
needed  in  revenue  positions. 

"  In  regard  to  the  matter  of  compensation,  I  have  only  to 
remark  that  the  law  fixes  definitely  the  salaries  and  commis 
sions  of  most  officers,  and  that  the  pay  of  subordinate  officers 
is  altogether  inadequate  to  tempt  Northern  men  to  assume  the 
risk  and  incur  the  odium  of  collecting  taxes  in  the  Southern 
States,  except,  perhaps,  in  the  commercial  cities  on  the  sea 
board. 

"  I  deem  it  my  duty,  further,  to  remark  that  I  do  not  con 
sider  it  advisable  for  the  Government  to  attempt  to  collect 
taxes  in  the  Southern  States  by  the  hands  of  strangers.  After 
having  given  the  subject  careful  consideration,  anxious  as  I 
am  to  increase  the  revenue  and  to  lighten  by  distributing  and 
equalizing  the  burdens  of  the  people,  with  no  party  interest  to 
promote,  and  with  nothing  but  the  good  of  the  Government  at 
heart,  I  have  come  to  the  deliberate  conclusion  that  it  would 
be  better  for  the  country,  politically  and  financially,  to  sus 
pend  the  collection  of  internal  revenue  taxes  in  the  Southern 
States  (except  in  commercial  cities)  for  months,  if  not  for  years 
to  come,  rather  than  to  undertake  to  collect  them  by  men 
not  identified  with  the  tax-payers  in  sympathy  or  interest. 

"  The  rebellion  grew  out  of  an  antagonism  of  opinion 
between  the  people  of  the  free  and  slave  States,  the  legitimate 
result  of  a  difference  of  institutions.  With  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  all  real  differences  of  opinion,  and  all  serious  causes  of 
estrangement,  ought  rapidly  to  disappear.  It  will  be  a  calam 
ity,  the  extent  of  which  cannot  now  be  estimated,  both  to 
this  nation  and  to  the  cause  of  civil  liberty  everywhere,  if, 
instead  of  looking  toward  reconciliation  and  harmony,  the 
action  of  the  Government  shall  tend  to  harden  and  intensify 
sectionalism  between  the  Northern  and  the  Southern  States. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  more  unfortunate  course  for  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  to  pursue  than  to  make  tax- 
gatherers  at  the  South  of  men  who  are  strangers  to  the  people. 
It  needs  no  reference  to  history  (although  it  is  full  of  lessons 


232  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

upon  this  subject)  to  illustrate  the  fatal  consequences  of  such  a 
policy. 

"  The  importance  of  this  subject  must  be  my  apology  for 
thus  calling  your  attention  to  it.  I  am  greatly  embarrassed, 
on  the  one  hand,  by  the  consideration  that  by  sanctioning  the 
longer  continuance  in  office  of  persons  who  have  not  taken  the 
oath  I  am  not  acting  with  entire  fairness  to  them,  and  am 
subjected  to  the  charge  of  disregarding  the  law;  and  on  the 
other  hand  by  the  consideration  that  if  they  should  be  dis 
missed  or  requested  to  resign,  the  public  revenues  would  be 
very  considerably  diminished,  and  reconciliation  and  harmony 
between  the  Government  and  a  large  portion  of  its  citizens 
greatly  retarded.  I  would  therefore  respectfully  suggest  that 
the  whole  matter  be  referred  to  Congress  for  such  action  as, 
in  their  judgment,  the  interest  of  the  service  and  the  interest 
of  the  Union  may  seem  to  require. 

"THE  PRESIDENT." 

"When  the  appropriation  bill  which  covered  the  amount 
required  to  pay  these  officers  for  the  services  they  had  ren 
dered  came  up  for  consideration  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Sherman, 
the  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee,  explained  the  case  in 
the  following  language :  "  The  circumstances  which  induced 
the  committee  to  report  favorably  were  very  simple.  The 
Secretary  found  it  impossible  to  find  men  in  some  of  the  coun 
ties  of  the  rebel  States  to  discharge  the  duties  of  assistant 
assessors  who  could  take  the  oath.  According  to  law,  they 
must  live  in  the  counties  in  which  they  respectively  hold  office. 
The  Secretary  was,  therefore,  compelled  to  dispense  with  a 
part  of  the  oath  in  particular  cases,  and  he  has  now  asked  to 
pay  these  men  only  up  to  the  first  of  August." 

To  this  fair  and  calm  statement  of  the  case  Mr.  Sumner 
savagely  replied :  "  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  guilty 
of  an  illegal  act — nay,  more,  a  crime.  He  violated  the  law  in 
appointing  men  who  could  not  take  the  oath,  and  when  com 
plaint  was  made,  he  replied,  in  a  notorious  falsehood,  that  there 
were  no  Union  men  in  the  South  who  could  take  the  oath.  This 
was  nothing  less  than  a  notorious  untruth.  Congress  has  been 
too  lenient  towards  the  crimes  of  this  officer.  I  will  not  vote 


CHARLES    SUMNEB.  233 

to  pay  those  rebels ;  let  the  Secretary  pay  them  out  of  his  own 
pocket."  Mr.  Sumner  knew,  when  he  uttered  this  language, 
that  my  action  in  the  appointments  referred  to  was  approved 
by  his  friend  Mr.  Stanton,  and  he  kne\v  also,  or  ought  to  have 
known,  that  there  was  not  a  statement  in  my  letter  to  the 
President  which  was  not  absolutely  true.  Mr.  Sumner  dis 
agreed  with  me  upon  the  suffrage  question  (there  had  been 
some  correspondence  between  us  upon  this  question),  and  he 
was  angry  with  me  on  account  of  the  removal  of  his  brother- 
in-law  from  the  office  of  surgeon  in  the  Marine  Hospital  at 
San  Francisco.  The  appropriation  of  money  to  pay  men  who 
had  not  taken  the  Test  Oath,  gave  him  an  opportunity  for 
expressing  his  bad  feeling  towards  me  and  the  people  of  the 
South,  which  he  did  in  the  language  I  have  quoted.  There 
was  no  personal  intercourse  between  us  after  that  time  until 
we  met  in  London,  in  1ST2  or  1ST3,  where  we  agreed  that 
bygones  should  be  forgotten,  and  pleasant  relations  were 
established  between  us,  which  continued  as  long  as  he  lived. 

Time  also  brought  its  healing  power  to  bear  upon  Mr. 
Sumner's  prejudice  against  the  South.  He  became  not  only 
anxious  that  good  feeling  should  prevail  between  the  sections, 
but  he  took  the  ground  that  there  ought  to  be  no  monuments 
in  the  North  to  remind  the  people  of  the  South  of  their 
humiliation,  or  to  indicate  that  there  had  been  a  civil  war. 
Mr.  Sumner  was  interesting  by  both  his  merits  and  his  faults. 
He  was  a  ripe  scholar,  an  elegant  and  instructive  writer.  As 
an  orator,  he  had  few  if  any  superiors.  His  style  was  ornate, 
his  delivery  impressive.  His  speeches  in  the  Senate  were  care 
fully  prepared,  and  were  worthy  of  the  close  attention  which 
they  received  from  most  of  the  senators,  although  they  were 
better  fitted  for  the  platform  than  the  halls  of  legislation.  His 
face  was  handsome  and  highly  intellectual.  He  was  tall,  well 
formed,  and  of  commanding  presence,  a  "man  of  mark"  in 
the  street  or  in  an  assembly.  He  was  also  a  pure  man,  a  man 
of  unsullied  and  unassailable  integrity.  All  this  can  be  justly 


234        ;ME:NT  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CEXTURY. 

said  of  him.  On  the  other  hand,  his  prejudices  were  hastily 
formed  and  violent.  His  self-esteem  was  limitless.  Impatient 
of  contradiction,  his  manner  to  those  who  differed  with  him 
was  arrogant  and  offensive.  His  ears  were  ever  open  to  flat 
tery,  of  which  he  was  omnivorous.  His  friendship  was  con 
fined  to  the  very  few  whom  he  acknowledged  to  be  his  equals, 
or  to  the  many  who  looked  up  to  him  as  a  superior.  His  sym 
pathies  were  for  races — too  lofty  to  descend  to  persons.  For 
the  freedom  of  the  slaves  he  was  an  earnest  worker ;  of  their 
claims  to  all  the  privileges  of  freedom,  after  their  emancipa 
tion,  he  was  an  able  and  eloquent  advocate  and  defender  ;  but 
to  appeals  by  needy  colored  people  to  his  charity,  or  even  his 
sympathy,  he  was  seemingly  indifferent.  These  constitutional 
defects  in  his  character  did  not  greatly  impair  his  usefulness, 
nor  lessen  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  those  who 
knew  him  well  and  properly  appreciated  his  excellent  qualities 
and  the  value  of  his  public  services.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  that  gallant  band  whom  the  slavery  question 
made  prominent  in  the  United  States,  and  his  name  will  be  at 
all  times  and  everywhere  honored  by  the  lovers  of  freedom. 

The  most  troublesome  and  disagreeable  duty  which  I  was 
called  upon  to  perform  was  in  the  execution  of  the  law  in 
reference  to  the  property  in  the  Southern  States,  which  had 
been  captured  by  the  Federal  armies,  or  was  owned  or  con 
trolled  by  the  Confederate  Government,  or  abandoned  by  its 
owners.  All  such  property  as  was  found  within  the  Federal 
lines,  as  the  war  progressed,  and  in  any  of  the  Southern  States 
after  the  war  was  ended,  became  the  property  of  the  United 
States,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Treasury  Department  to 
adopt  rules  and  appoint  agents  for  its  collection.  Rules  had 
been  prepared  and  agents  had  been  appointed  for  this  purpose 
during  the  war  by  my  predecessors,  Mr.  Chase  and  Mr.  Fessen- 
den.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  field  was  greatly  enlarged, 
and  new  rules,  and  a  much  larger  number  of  agents  were 
required.  The  preparation  of  rules  which  should  strictly  define 


INVESTIGATING   CLAIMS.  235 

the  duties  of  the  agents  was  a  difficult  matter,  but  this  diffi 
culty  was  small  in  comparison  with  that  which  was  encoun 
tered  in  keeping  the  agents  up  to,  and  yet  within,  the  line  of 
their  instructions.  As  they  were  to  be  paid  for  these  services 
by  a  commission  on  the  property  which  they  collected  and 
secured,  there  was  a  strong  temptation  for  them  to  take  pos 
session  of  property  which  had  not  been  owned  or  controlled 
by  the  Confederate  Government ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Southern  people  were  still  more  strongly  tempted  to  claim  as 
their  own,  or  to  conceal,  property  which  wcs  liable  to  seizure. 
Thus  while  the  agents  were  disposed  to  regard  all  property 
which  they  could  reach  (it  was  chiefly  cotton)  as  belonging  to 
the  United  States,  the  people,  or  most  of  them,  were  disposed 
to  claim  as  their  own  private  property  that  which  had  been 
bought  and  paid  for  by  the  Confederate  Government. 

For  some  time  after  the  war  was  ended,  the  Southern 
States  were  in  a  disorganized  condition.  The  Confederate 
Government  having  been  overthrown,  there  was  no  governing 
power  except  the  Federal  military  power,  and  this  did  not 
extend  much  beyond  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Federal 
troops.  Everywhere  else  there  was  an  absence  of  recognized 
authority  to  which  appeal  could  be  made  for  the  protection  of 
private  property  or  for  the  protection  of  the  Treasury  Agents 
in  the  performance  of  their  legitimate  duties.  In  these  cir 
cumstances  a  good  deal  of  Confederate  property  was  undoubt 
edly  "  spirited  avxiy "  (as  its  disappearance  from  accessible 
places  Avas  called),  and  not  a  little  was  seized  by  the  agents  to 
which  the  United  States  had  no  claim.  As  it  was  my  duty  to 
execute  the  law  fairly — to  protect  the  interests  of  the  Govern 
ment  without  doing  injustice  to  claimants — I  was  compelled  to 
give  a  great  deal  of  time,  by  night  as  well  as  by  day,  to  the 
investigation  and  decision  of  claims  upon  the  Government  by 
real  or  pretended  owners,  and  that  too,  when  other  business  of 
the  greatest  importance  demanded  my  constant  attention. 
When  individual  claimants  were  clearly  right,  the  property 


236  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

was  surrendered.  "When  there  was  a  reasonable  doubt  as  to 
the  ownership,  it  was  retained,  and  the  claimants  were  left  to 
prosecute  their  claims  in  the  courts.  Although  Mr.  Eames,  an 
eminent  and  upright  lawyer,  was  employed  as  special  counsel 
for  the  Government  in  cases  of  peculiar  difficulty,  I  should 
have  been  unable  to  do  what  seemed  to  be  absolutely  required 
of  the  head  of  the  Department  in  the  disposition  of  these  cap 
tured  and  abandoned  property  cases,  but  for  the  very  efficient 
aid  which  I  received  from  my  Assistant  Secretary,  William  E. 
Chandler. 

Mr.  Chandler  was  a  stranger  to  me  when,  at  my  request, 
he  was  appointed  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  but  I 
knew  that,  although  quite  young,  he  had  performed  satisfac 
torily,  important  duties  in  the  Navy  Department,  and  I  was 
pleased  with  his  appearance.  He  proved  to  be  just  the  man  I 
Avanted.  He  was  self-possessed,  industrious,  intelligent,  acute ; 
faithful  to  the  Government,  and  true  to  me.  He  had  my  entire 
confidence — in  no  one  could  it  have  been  more  safely  reposed. 
Since  then  he  has  risen  to  distinction  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
and  he  enters  the  United  States  Senate  well  equipped  for  the 
performance  of  legislative  duties.  His  private  life  is  pure,  his 
integrity  unquestionable.  In  politics  he  is  an  efficient  and 
skilful  worker,  devoted  to  his  party,  and  an  earnest  advocate 
of  its  principles.  To  his  great  credit  be  it  said,  he  was  one 
of  the  few  radical  Republicans  who  did  not  permit  their  party 
allegiance  to  blind  them  to  the  merits  of  Andrew  Johnson. 

Mr.  Chandler  was  succeeded  \)y  Edmund  Cooper  of  Ten 
nessee,  a  personal  friend  of  President  Johnson.  I  had  no 
acquaintance  with  him  before  his  appointment,  but  he  proved 
to  be  an  intelligent,  industrious,  high-toned  gentleman,  who 
soon  became  familiar  with  the  duties  assigned  to  him,  and  per 
formed  them  to  my  satisfaction.  I  have  very  pleasant  recollec 
tion  of  Mr.  Cooper,  personally  and  officially.  John  F.  Hartley 
was  also  one  of  my  assistant  secretaries.  He  wras  a  class-mate 
of  mine  in  the  Saco  Academy,  and  at  Bowdoin  College.  After 


DAVID    A.  WELLS.  237 

graduating  \vith  high  honors  (he  was  always  at  the  head  of 
his  classes),  he  studied  law,  and  gave  promise  of  taking  a 
prominent  position  in  his  profession.  Before  getting  fairly  at 
work,  however,  he  went  to  Washington  with  the  intention  of 
spending  a  few  months  there,  and  seeing  something  of  public 
life,  and  forming  the  acquaintance  of  public  men.  While 
there  he  was  so  unwise  as  to  accept  a  clerkship  in  the  Treasury 
Department,  and  there  I  found  him  when  I  became  Comp 
troller  of  the  Currency.  Like  a  great  many  other  talented 
young  men  who  have  applied  for  and  obtained  clerkships  in 
the  Washington  departments  for  temporary  employment,  and 
have  become  so  attached  to  their  places,  or  disqualified  for 
more  active  life,  as  to  become  fixtures,  Mr.  Hartle}T  relin 
quished  the  profession  in  which  he  might  have  been  distin 
guished,  and  buried  himself  in  the  Treasury  Department.  He 
was  advanced  by  Mr.  Chase  to  the  chief  clerkship,  some  thirty 
years  after  he  entered  the  department,  and  one  of  my  first 
official  acts  as  Secretary  was  to  make  him  one  of  my  assistants, 
and  a  very  valuable  assistant  he  proved  to  be.  He  had  a  clear, 
discriminating  intellect,  which  had  been  improved  by  his  early 
legal  training  and  subsequent  study,  so  that  he  had  peculiar 
aptitude  for  the  investigation  of  the  complicated  and  difficult 
questions  which  were  constantly  arising  under  the  tariff  laws. 
His  duties  were  chiefly  in  that  line,  and  they  were  admirably 
performed.  No  one  in  the  Department  was  so  familiar  with  the 
customs  laws,  or  so  competent  to  interpret  them,  as  Mr.  Hart 
ley.  He  held  the  office  of  Assistant  Secretary  during  my  term, 
and  under  Secretaries  Boutwell  and  Richardson.  His  resi<rna- 

O 

tion  was  asked  for  soon  after  Mr.  Bristow  became  Secretary. 

There  are  few  of  my  official  acts  that  I  look  upon  with 
more  satisfaction  than  the  appointment  of  David  A.  Wells  to 
be  a  Revenue  Commissioner.  Prior  to  the  civil  war,  economic 
questions  excited  but  little  practical  interest  in  the  United 
States.  The  Government  was  out  of  debt,  and  the  current 
expenses  were  provided  for  by  the  tariff  and  small  receipts 


238     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

from  the  sales  of  public  lands.  The  tariff,  it  is  true,  had  been 
for  nearly  forty  years  a  fruitful  subject  of  discussion,  but  it 
had  been  discussed  as  a  party  and  sectional  question,  and  with 
comparatively  little  reference  to  its  bearing  upon  the  diversi 
fied  interests  of  the  country.  So  much  of  a  sectional  question 
at  one  time  was  it,  that  it  gave  birth  to  the  doctrine  of  nullifi 
cation,  and  but  for  the  energy  and  decision  of  the  President, 
General  Jackson,  and  the  compromise  measures  of  which 
Henry  Clay  was  the  father,  it  might  have  jeopardized  the 
integrity  of  the  nation.  Soon  after  the  commencement  of 
the  civil  war  it  became  obvious  that  the  revenues  must  be 
largely  and  promptly  increased  to  meet  extraordinary  expenses 
and  strengthen  the  public  credit.  To  accomplish  this  great 
changes  were  made  in  the  tariff,  and  a  far-reaching  system  of 
internal  revenue  was  adopted.  The  emergency  was  pressing, 
and  there  was  no  time  for  an  investigation  by  Congress  of 
the  effect  which  heavy  and  indiscriminate  taxation  might  have 
upon  productive  industry.  The  object  aimed  at  was  immedi 
ate  increase  of  revenue,  and  this  was  most  successfully  accom 
plished  ;  but  the  burdens  to  which  the  tax-payers  were  sub 
jected  were  heavy;  a  part  of  the  taxes  were  found  to  be 
injudicious,  and  when  the  war  was  concluded  and  business 
was  returning  to  its  former  and  regular  channels,  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  existing  tax  laws  for  the  purpose  of 
accommodating  them  to  well-established  economic  principles 
and  the  changed  and  changing  condition  of  the  country  was 
very  clearly  demanded.  To  meet  this  demand,  Congress,  by 
the  amendatory  act  of  March  3,  1865,  authorized  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  "  appoint  a  Commission,  consisting  of 
three  persons,  to  inquire  and  report  at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment  upon  the  subject  of  raising  by  taxation  such  revenue 
as  may  be  necessary  in  order  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  having  regard  to  and  including  the  sources  from 
which  such  revenue  should  be  drawn,  and  the  best  and  most 
efficient  mode  of  raisin^  the  same." 


THE   EEVENUE   COMMISSION.  239 

In  accordance  with  this  act,  David  A.  "Wells,  Stephen  Col- 
well  and  S.  S.  Hayes  were  appointed  Commissioners.  Mr. 
Hayes  I  knew  personally.  Mr.  Colwell  was  appointed  on  the 
recommendation  of  Pennsylvania  Congressmen,  and  Mr.  Wells, 
from  my  own  knowledge  of  him,  and  on  the  advice  of  my 
predecessor,  Mr.  Fessenden.  Mr.  Hayes  was  regarded  as  repre 
senting  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  West ;  Mr.  Colwell, 
the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  Eastern  States ;  and  Mr. 
Wells,  commerce  in  its  various  branches.  The  Commission 
was  thus  constituted  that  it  might  fairly  represent  different, 
and  to  some  extent  conflicting,  interests.  It  was  organized  in 
June,  1865,  and  continued  in  existence  until  July,  1866,  dur 
ing  which  time  it  performed  very  valuable  work,  and,  by  the 
joint  and  several  reports  of  its  members,  gave  to  Congress  a 
great  deal  of  such  information  as  was  needed  to  give  right 
direction  to  economic  legislation.  The  following  paragraphs 
in  regard  to  the  work  of  the  Commission  are  from  my  report 
of  1865  : 

"  An  investigation  of  the  character  of  the  revenue  contem 
plated  by  the  act  authorizing  this  Commission  necessarily 
involves  a  careful  and  comprehensive  inquiry  into  the  condi 
tion  of  every  industry,  trade  or  occupation  in  the  country 
likely  to  be  affected  by  the  national  revenue  system,  and,  in 
the  absence  of  nearly  all  previously  compared  and  exact  data, 
must  necessarily  be  protracted  ami  laborious. 

"  The  plan  pursued  by  the  Commission  has  been  to  take  up, 
specifically,  these  sources  of  revenue  which  our  own  experi 
ence,  and  the  experience  of  other  countries  have  indicated  as 
likely  to  be  most  productive  under  taxation,  and  most  capable 
of  sustaining  its  burdens.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  a  large 
number  of  witnesses  have  been  examined,  and  much  valuable 
testimony  put  upon  record. 

"  As  a  gratifying  feature  of  their  work,  the  Commission 
report  a  most  cheerful  and  prompt  co-operation  on  the  part  of 
nearly  all  the  representatives  of  the  industrial  interests  of  the 
country  in  the  procurement  of  exact  information,  and  a  uni 
versal  expression  of  ready  acquiescence  in  any  demands  upon 
them  which  the  future  necessities  of  the  Government  may 
require,  united  at  the  same  time  with  a  request  that  the  Gov- 


240  MEX    AXD    MEASURES    OF    HALF    A    CENTURY. 

eminent  should,  on  its  part,  seek  to  equalize,  so  far  as  prac 
ticable,  and  fairly  distribute,  the  apportionment  of  its  require 
ments." 

The  duties  of  the  Commissioners  were  ably  performed,  and 
satisfactorily  to  Congress  and  to  the  Secretary ;  but  upon 
the  completion  of  their  reports,  their  further  services  were  dis 
pensed  with,  and  instead  thereof,  the  Secretary  was  author 
ized  by  '•  An  act  to  reduce  internal  taxation,"  etc.,  etc.,  to 
appoint  an  officer  in  his  department,  who  should  be  styled 
Special  Commissioner  of  the  Revenue,  whose  office  should  ter 
minate  in  four  years  from  the  10th  day  of  June,  1866.  In  my 
report  of  18C6  I  referred  to  the  act,  and  to  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  Wells  as  Special  Commissioner : 

"  It  was  the  duty  of  the  Special  Commissioner  of  the  Rev- 
enue  to  inquire  into  all  the  sources  of  national  revenue,  and  the 
best  method  of  collecting  the  revenue  ;  the  relation  of  foreign 
trade  to  domestic  industry ;  the  mutual  adjustment  of  the  sys 
tems  of  taxation  by  customs  and  excise,  with  the  view  of  insur 
ing  the  requisite  revenue  with  the  least  disturbance  or  incon 
venience  to  the  progress  of  industry  and  the  development  of 
the  resources  of  the  country  ;  and  to  inquire  from  time  to 
time,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
into  the  manner  in  which  officers  charged  with  the  adminis 
tration  and  collection  of  the  revenues  perform  their  duties. 

"On  the  16th  of  July  last  Mr.  David  A.  Wells  was 
appointed  Special  Commissioner  of  the  Revenue,  under  the 
authority  above  stated,  and  he  was  instructed  to  proceed  at 
once  to  perform  the  contemplated  work,  giving  his  chief  atten 
tion  to  the  tariff,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  what  modifica 
tions  are  required  to  adjust  it  to  the  system  of  internal  taxes, 
stimulate  industry,  and  make  labor  more  productive. 

"  The  ability  displayed  by  Mr.  Wells  in  the  performance  of 
his  duties  as  one  of  the  Commissioners  for  the  revision  of  the 
internal  revenue  laws,  and  the  heartiness  with  which  he  is 
prosecuting  his  investigations,  give  the  best  assurance  that  he 
will  perform  the  work  in  a  manner  creditable  to  himself  and 
satisfactory  to  Congress  and  the  people." 

My  instructions  to  him  were  given  in  a  letter,  from  which 
the  following  are  extracts  : 


REVENUE  AXD  TARIFF  REFORM.          241 

••  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  revision  of  the  tariff  is  cer 
tain  to  engage  the  attention  of  Congress  at  its  next  session,  I 
consider  it  especially  desirable  that  the  Treasury  Department 
should  be  prepared  to  furnish  as  much  information  pertinent 
to  the  subject  as  can  be  obtained  and  collected  within  the  lim 
ited  time  available  for  the  necessary  investigations.  You  are, 
therefore,  hereby  requested  to  give  the  subject  of  the  revision 
of  the  tariff  especial  attention,  and  to  report  a  bill  which,  if 
approved  by  Congress,  will  be  a  substitute  for  all  acts  impos 
ing  customs  duties,  and  which  will  render  the  administration 
of  this  branch  of  the  revenue  system  more  simple,  economical 
and  effective. 

"  In  the  discharge  of  this  duty,  you  will  consider  the  neces 
sity  of  providing  for  a  large,  certain,  and  permanent  revenue, 
recollecting  the  fact  that  the  existing  tariff  has  proved  most 
effective  in  this  direction.  You  will,  therefore,  endeavor  first 
to  secure  for  the  Government  a  revenue  commensurate  with 
its  necessities ;  and,  secondly,  to  propose  such  modifications  of 
the  tariff  laws  now  in  force  as  will  better  adjust  and  equalize 
the  duties  upon  foreign  imports  with  the  internal  taxes  upon 
home  productions.  If  this  last  result  can  be  obtained  without 
detriment  to  the  revenue  by  reducing  taxation  upon  raw  mate 
rials  and  the  machinery  of  home  productions,  rather  than  by 
increasing  the  rates  upon  imports,  it  would,  in  my  opinion,  by 
decreasing  the  cost  of  production  and  increasing  the  purchas 
ing  power  of  wages,  greatly  promote  the  interests  of  the 
whole  country." 

In  my  report  of  December,  1867,  I  referred  again  to  the 
work  of  the  Commission  in  the  following  language  : 

"  The  Special  Commissioner  of  the  .Revenue,  since  the 
adjournment  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  has  been  actively 
engaged  in  the  wide  range  of  duties  assigned  to  him  by 
law,  and,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary,  has  devoted 
a  portion  of  his  time  to  a  personal  study  and  examination  of 
the  revenue  systems  and  industrial  condition  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  leading  countries  of  Europe.  The  result  of  his  inves 
tigations  will  be  transmitted  to  Congress  at  an  early  day.  In 
his  report  the  Commissioner  will  discuss  the  subject  ^of  Govern 
ment  expenditures  as  bearing  upon  the  question  of  the  abate 
ment  of  taxes ;  the  present  industrial  condition  and  recent  prog 
ress  of  the  country,  the  price  of  labor  and  raw  materials  at 
home  and  abroad,  the  revision  of  the  internal  revenue  system 
both  as  respects  administration  and  specific  taxation,  and  the 
16 


242     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

relations  of  the  present  tariff  to  revenue  and  domestic  indus- 
try." 

To  those  who  have  read  his  reports,  it  is  not  necessary  for 
me  to  say  that  these  subjects  were  discussed  with  great  clear 
ness  and  vigor.  All  of  the  reports  which  were  made  by  Mr. 
Wells,  as  Special  Commissioner,  exhibited  the  most  careful, 
painstaking  and  intelligent  investigation.  In  clearness  and 
accuracy  of  statement,  and  in  logical  force,  they  have  not  been 
surpassed  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Their  ability  was 
admitted,  even  by  those  who  disagreed  Avith  the  writer  in  his 
conclusions.  To  the  reputation  which  Mr.  Wells  acquired  as 
Special  Commissioner  of  the  Revenue  he  has  added  very  largely 
by  his  numerous  papers  upon  economic  subjects.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  his  rank  is  among  the  first  of  political  econo 
mists  of  the  time,  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

Condition  of  the  Treasury  in  April,  1865 — Detailed  Statement  thereof — Abso 
lute  Needs  of  the  Government— Offering  of  the  Seven  and  Three-tenths 
Notes — Action  of  the  Press — Large  Subscriptions  by  some  of  the  Banks — 
Apprehended  Danger  therefrom — Thorough  Examination  of  the  Loan 
Books— Result  of  that  Examination — Officers  and  Clerks — The  Currency 
Question — Review  of  the  General  Policy  of  the  Treasury  Department  for 
Four  Years. 

THE  condition  of  the  Treasury  in  April,  1865,  and  the  sale 
of  the  last  of  the  seven  and  three-tenths  notes  that  were 
offered  to  the  public,  were  thus  described  in  my  report  of  1867  : 

"  In  order  that  the  action  of  the  Secretary  in  the  financial 
administration  of  the  Department  may  be  properly  understood, 
a  brief  reference  to  the  condition  of  the  Treasury  at  the  time 
the  war  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  at  some  subsequent  periods, 
seems  to  be  necessary. 

"  On  the  31st  day  of  March,  1865,  the  total  debt  of  the 
United  States  was  $2,366,955,077.34,  of  the  following  descrip 
tions,  to  wit : 

Funded  debt $1,100,361,241  80 

Matured  debt 349,420  09 

Temporary  loan  certificates 52,452,328  29 

Certificates  of  indebtedness 171,790,000  00 

Interest-bearing  notes 526,812,800  00 

Suspended  or  unpaid  requisitions 114,256,548  93 

United  States  notes  (legal  tenders) 433,160,569  00 

Fractional  currency 24,254,094  07 

$2,423,437,002  18 
Cash  in  the  Treasury 56,481,924  84 

Total $2,366,955,077  34 

"  The  resources  of  the  Treasury  consisted  of  the  money  in 
the  public  depositories  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  amount 
ing  as  above  stated  to  $56,481,924.84 ;  the  revenues  from 


244     MEX  AXD  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

internal  taxes  and  customs  duties,  and  the  authority  to  issue 
bonds,  notes  and  certificates,  under  the  following  acts  to  the 
following  amounts : 

Act  of  February  25,  1862,  bonds $4,023,600  00 

Act  of  March  3,  1864,  bonds 27,229,900  00 

Act  of  June  30,  1864,  bonds  7-30  or  compound- 
interest  notes 79,811,000  00 

Certificates  for  temporary  loans,  act  June  30, 

1864 ". 97,546,471  71 

U.  S.  notes  for  payment  of  temporary  loans, 

act  July  11,  1862 ". 16,839,431  00 

Fractional  currency,  act  June  30,  1864 25,745,905  93 

Act  of  March  3,  1865,  bonds  or  interest-bearing 

notes 533,587,200  00 

Making  a  total  of.  .  .  .8784,783,508  64 


"  Certificates  of  indebtedness,  payable  one  year  from  date, 
or  earlier  at  the  option  of  the  Government,  bearing  interest  at 
the  rate  of  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  might  be  issued  to  an  indefi 
nite  amount,  but  only  to  public  creditors  desirous  of  receiving 
them  in  satisfaction  of  audited  and  settled  demands  against  the 
United  States. 

"  Early  in  April,  the  fall  of  Richmond  and  the  surrender  of 
the  forces  which  had  so  long  defended  it,  rendered  it  certain 
that  the  Avar  was  soon  to  be  terminated,  and  that  provision 
must  be  made  for  the  payment  of  the  army  at  the  earliest 
practicable  moment. 

"  The  exigency  was  great,  and  the  prospect  of  raising  the 
money  required  to  meet  the  present  and  prospective  demands 
upon  the  Treasury,  under  the  laws  then  existing,  was  suffi 
ciently  discouraging  to  create  solicitude  and  anxiety  in  the 
mind  of  a  Secretary  little  experienced  in  public  affairs,  upon 
whom  the  responsibility  of  maintaining  the  credit  of  the  nation 
had  been  unexpectedly  devolved.  There  was  no  time  to  try 
experiments  or  to  correct  errors,  if  any  had  been  committed,  in 
the  kind  of  securities  which  had  been  put  upon  the  market. 
Creditors  were  importunate,  the  unpaid  requisitions  on  the 
Department  were  largely  in  excess  of  the  cash  in  the  Treasury ; 
the  vouchers  issued  to  contractors  for  the  necessary  supplies  of 
the  army  and  navy  were  being  sold  at  from  ten  to  twenty  per 
cent,  discount— indicating  by  their  depreciation  how  uncertain 
was  the  prospect  of  early  payment — while  nearly  a  million  of 
men  were  soon  to  be  discharged  from  service,  who  could  not 


SUCCESS    OF   THE   SEVEX-THIRTY   LOAX.  245 

be  mustered  out  until  the  means  to  pay  the  large  balances  due 
them  were  provided.  There  was  no  alternative  but  to  raise 
money  by  popular  subscription  to  Government  securities  of  a 
character  the  most  acceptable  to  the  people,  who  had  subscribed 
so  liberally  to  previous  loans. 

"  As  a  considerable  amount  of  the  seven-thirty  notes  had 
recently  been  disposed  of  satisfactorily  by  the  Department, 
and  had  proved  to  be  the  most  popular  security  ever  offered 
to  the  people,  the  Secretary  determined  to  rely  upon  them 
(although  on  the  part  of  the  Government  they  were  in  many 
respects  objectionable),  and,  in  order  to  insure  speedy  subscrip 
tions,  to  place  them  within  the  reach  of  all  who  might  be 
willing  to  invest  in  them.  In  every  city  and  town  and  village 
of  the  loyal,  and  at  some  points  in  the  disloyal  States,  subscrip 
tions  were  solicited.  The  press,  with  its  immense  power,  and 
without  distinction  of  party,  seconded  the  efforts  of  the  ener 
getic  and  skilful  agent  who  had  charge  of  the  loan.  The 
national  banks  gave  efficient  aid  by  liberal  subscriptions, 
while  thousands  of  persons  in  humble  life  and  with  limited 
means  hesitated  not  to  commit  their  substance  to  the  honor  and 
good  faith  of  the  Government.  Before  the  end  of  July  the 
entire  loan,  exceeding  five  hundred  millions,  was  subscribed 
and  paid  for,  and  the  Secretary  was  enabled  with  the  proceeds, 
together  with  the  receipts  from  customs  and  internal  revenue, 
and  the  use  to  a  limited  extent  of  some  of  the  other  means  at 
his  disposal,  to  pay  every  requisition  upon  the  Treasury,  and 
every  matured  national  obligation.  As  evidence  of  the  neces 
sity  for  prompt  action  in  the  negotiation  of  this  loan,  and  the 
straits  to  which  the  Treasury  was  reduced,  it  will  be  remem 
bered  by  those  who  examined  carefully  the  monthly  statements 
of  the  Department,  that  although  during  the  month  of  April 
upwards  of  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  had  been  received 
from  the  sales  of  7-30  notes,  the  unpaid  requisitions,  at  its  close, 
had  increased  to  $120,470,000,  while  the  cash  (coin  and  cur 
rency)  in  all  public  depositories  amounted  only  to  $16,835,800. 
If  few  men  intrusted  with  the  management  of  the  finances  of 
a  great  nation  Avere  ever  in  a  position  so  embarrassing  and  try 
ing,  as  that  of  the  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Treasury  in 
the  months  of  April  and  May,  1865,  none,  certainly,  were  ever 
so  happily  and  promptly  relieved.  The  Secretary  refers  to 
this  period  of  his  administration  of  the  Department  with 
pleasure,  because  the  success  of  this  loan  was  to  him  not  only 
a  surprise  and  relief,. but  because  it  indicated  the  resources  of 
the  country,  and  gave  him  the  needed  courage  for  the  perform 
ance  of  the  great  work  that  was  before  him." 


246  MEN  AND    MEASURES    OF  HALF   A   CENTURY. 

When  these  seven  and  three-tenths  notes  were  offered,  the 
market  was  already  amply  supplied  with  Government  securi 
ties,  but  the  machinery  for  placing  them  before  the  public  was 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  the  agent  of  the  Gov 
ernment  in  the  disposition  of  many  of  the  previous  loans,  and 
the  success  was  such  as  I  have  described.  It  was  understood 
to  be  the  last  of  a  long  line  of  loans  necessitated  by  the  civil 
war,  and  there  was  therefore  unusual  activity  among  sub 
scribers.  The.  last  day's  subscription  exceeded  ten  millions  of 
dollars.  I  was,  of  course,  gratified  by  the  result ;  but  this 
gratification  was  immediately  followed  by  anxiety.  The 
national  banks  were  largely  instrumental  in  the  sale  of  these 
notes,  and  some  of  them  were  liberal  subscribers  on  their  own 
account.  The  next  day  after  I  had  been  advised  that  the 
entire  loan  had  been  disposed  of,  I  requested  General  Spinner, 
the  Treasurer,  to  bring  to  me  a  statement  of  the  bank  balances. 
As  I  looked  over  the  list,  cold  sweat  started  from  my  fore 
head.  u  You  are  sweating,  Mr.  Secretary,"  said  the  Treasurer. 
"Yes,"  I  replied,  "and  this  list  would  make  me  sweat  if  the 
mercury,  instead  of  being  in  the  nineties,  were  at  zero."  I 
perceived  that  very  large  balances  were  due  from  banks  of 
small  capitals.  One  bank  in  a  Western  city,  with  a  capital  of 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  indebted  to  the  Govern 
ment  for  over  two  millions.  The  loan  had  gone  with  a  rush. 
I  knew  that  the  market  had  been,  at  least  temporarily,  over 
sold,  and  I  foresaw  that  until  the  notes  were  better  distributed, 
they  would  fall  below  par,  and  might  decline  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  cripple  some  of  the  banks  that  were  large  holders,  unless 
they  sold  speedily.  I  therefore  said  to  the  Treasurer :  "  Draw 
down  the  large  bank  balances  as  rapidly  as  you  can  without 
causing  serious  trouble.  Send  drafts  to  the  Assistant  Treasurer 
[where  the  bank  especially  referred  to  was  located]  and  instruct 
him  to  use  them  discreetly  in  reducing  the  amount  which  it 
owes  to  the  Government."  This  was  done,  and  it  was  done 
none  too  early,  if  not  for  the  protection  of  the  Government, 


VERIFYING   ACCOUNTS.  247 

at  least  for  the  benefit  of  the  bank,  which  by  being  heavily 
drawn  upon,  was  compelled  to  sell  a  large  part  of  its  holdings 
before  the  decline.  Within  a  month  the  notes  were  selling  at 
two  or  three  per  cent,  discount ;  but  in  the  mean  time  the 
balances  in  that  bank,  and  in  other  banks,  had  been  so  reduced 
that  I  slept  soundly  again. 

For  nearly  three  years  after  I  became  Secretary  I  had 
enough  to  do  (besides  the  routine  business  of  the  great  Depart 
ment,  to  some  items  of  which  I  have  referred)  in  funding  the 
immense  amount  of  temporary  obligations  of  the  Government. 
As  soon  as  this  great,  and  in  some  respects  difficult,  work,  was 
completed,  or  in  a  fair  way  of  speedy  accomplishment,  the 
question,  Has  a  dollar  been  received  for  each  dollar  of  debt 
that  has  been  created  since  the  commencement  of  the  war  ? 
forced  itself  upon  my  attention.  I  confess  that  this  question 
troubled  me.  I  had  no  reason  to  think  that  there  had  been 
any  over-issues,  or  that  the  Government  had  been  defrauded 
in  any  way.  Everything  upon  the  surface  appeared  to  be 
straight,  but  a  debt  of  nearly  three  thousand  millions  of  dol 
lars  had  been  created  in  four  years.  The  obligations  repre 
senting  this  enormous  debt  had  been  of  various  kinds,  and  in 
their  preparation  and  issue  had  passed  through  many  inexperi 
enced  hands.  Might  not  serious  mistakes  have  been  made — 
might  there  not  be  outstanding  obligations  that  did  not  appear 
upon  the  books  ?  This  question  I  determined  to  have  settled, 
if  it  should  be  possible,  before  my  term  of  office  expired.  I 
therefore  appointed  a  committee,  consisting  of  some  half  dozen 
of  the  hardest  workers  and  best  accountants  in  the  Depart 
ment,  to  take  up  each  loan  in  the  order  of  issue ;  to  examine 
carefully  the  rules  under  which  the  obligations  had  been 
printed — the  checks  which  had  been  adopted  to  prevent  col 
lusion  among  those  whose  hands  they  passed  in  being  prepared 
for  use — the  records  of  issue  and  redemption  ;  in  a  word,  to  do 
everything  that  could  be  done  to  ascertain  whether  the  public 
statements  of  the  public  debt  \vere,  or  were  not,  correct. 


248     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Some  months  were  required  for  this  investigation,  which,  as 
far  as  I  could  judge,  was  thorough  and  complete.  I  need  not 
say  that  my  mind  was  relieved  when  the  committee  reported 
to  me  that  no  material  errors  of  any  kind  had  been  discovered  ; 
that  the  records  of  the  different  loans  had  been  carefully  kept, 
that  all  the  bonds  and  notes  which  had  been  issued  appeared 
to  have  been  paid  for — that  there  had  been  no  over-issues,  and 
that  the  debt  in  kind  and  amount,  was  what  it  appeared  to  be 
on  the  books  and  in  the  monthly  statements.  That  no  losses 
were  sustained  by  the  Government  through  want  of  care, 
incompetency,  or  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  its  employees  or 
agents,  considering  the  amount  and  variety  of  its  obligations, 
is  a  very  interesting  fact  in  the  history  of  our  civil  war.  The 
United  States  is  the  only  nation  that  publishes  a  monthly 
statement  of  its  debt ;  it  is  among  the  few  that  have  dealt 
honestly  with  their  creditors;  in  the  steady  reduction  of  its 
debt  it  stands  alone. 

I  have  said  more  than  I  intended  to  say  about  the 
Treasury  Department,  and  my  connection  with  it ;  but  I  cannot 
forbear  to  testify  to  the  industry,  zeal  and  ability  of  the  heads 
of  the  bureaus  and  the  leading  clerks.  Willing  and  hard 
working  men  were  they  all — true  to  the  Government  in  the 
great  struggle  in  which  it  was  engaged,  they  seemed  always 
to  be  emulous  to  display  in  their  respective  stations  the  devo 
tion  to  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  country  which  was  dis 
played  by  so  many  of  their  countrymen  in  the  field.  Many 
of  them  were  men  of  great  ability — ability  that  might  have 
distinguished  them  in  more  conspicuous  walks  of  life.  An 
opinion  is  prevalent  that  no  high  order  of  capacity  is  required 
in  what  are  called  the  subordinate  officers  of  the  executive 
departments.  This  opinion  is  altogether  erroneous.  The 
work  to  be  performed  in  these  departments,  especially  in  the 
Treasury,  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  country,  and 
such  as  can  be  well  performed  only  by  men  of  decided  ability. 
For  instance,  the  duties  of  the  comptrollers  and  auditors  of 


THE   CURRENCY    QUESTION.  249 

the  Treasury  Department,  by  whom  all  official  accounts  are 
examined  and  settled,  require  in  their  performance  legal  and 
business  knowledge  of  a  very  high  order,  and  integrity  that  is 
proof  against  temptation.  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say,  that 
millions  of  dollars  were  saved  by  the  Government  during  the 
war  and  immediately  after  its  close,  which  would  have  been 
lost  if  the  auditors  and  comptrollers  had  not  been  able  and 
incorruptible  men.  It  is  of  supreme  importance  that  the 
comptrollers,  especially,  should  be  men  of  this  character,  as  it 
is  their  duty  to  revise  the  work  of  the  auditors,  and  their 
decisions  can  only  be  overruled  by  the  courts.  Such  were 
Mr.  R.  W.  Taylor  and  Mr.  I.  M.  Brodhead,  who  held  these 
offices  for  many  years,  and  Avhose  services  were  of  inestimable 
value  to  the  country.  The  clerks,  also,  in  their  different 
stations,  were  faithful  and  industrious  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties.  Xo  one  was  appointed  or  dismissed  at  my 
instance  on  party  or  personal  grounds.  It  was  my  aim,  as  I 
have  said,  to  administer  the  department  on  strictly  business 
principles,  and  in  my  efforts  in  that  direction  I  had  the  hearty 
co-operation  of  my  subordinates.  I  am  quite  sure  that  very 
few  private  institutions  were  so  faithfully  served. 

I  have  before  expressed  to  some  extent  my  views  in  regard 
to  the  national  debt  and  the  currency  question.  The  follow 
ing  extract  from  my  report  of  1860  indicates,  perhaps,  more 
clearly  than  anything  that  I  have  said,  my  opinion  in  regard 
to  an  irredeemable,  and  consequently  depreciated,  currency  : 

"There  being  but  one  universally  recognized  measure  of 
value,  and  that  being  a  value  in  itself,  costing  what  it  represents 
in  the  labor  which  is  required  to  obtain  it,  the  nation  that 
adopts,  either  from  choice  or  temporary  necessity,  an  inferior 
standard,  violates  the  financial  law  of  the  world  and  inevitably 
suffer  from  its  violation.  An  irredeemable,  and  consequently 
depreciated,  currency,  drives  out  of  circulation  the  currency 
superior  to  itself ;  and  if  made  by  law  a  legal  tender,  while 
its  real  value  is  not  thereby  enhanced,  it  becomes  a  false  and 
demoralizing  standard,  under  the  influences  of  which  prices 


250     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

advance  in  a  ratio  disproportioned  even  to  its  actual  deprecia 
tion.  Very  different  from  this  is  that  gradual,  healthy,  and 
general  advance  of  prices  which  is  the  effect  of  the  increase  of 
the  precious  metals.  The  coin  which  is  obtained  in  the  gold  and 
silver  producing  districts,  although  it  first  affects  prices  within 
such  districts,  following  the  course  of  trade,  and  in  obedience 
to  its  laws,  soon  finds  its  way  to  other  countries,  and  becomes 
a  part  of  the  common  stock  of  the  nations,  which,  increasing 
in  amount  by  the  regular  product  of  the  mines,  and  in  activity 
bv  the  growing  demands  of  commerce,  advances  the  price 
of  labor  and  commodities  throughout  the  commercial  world. 
Thus  the  products  of  the  American,  Australian,  and  Russian 
mines  tend  first  to  advance  prices  in  their  respective  localities, 
but  the  operation  of  trade  soon  distributes  these  products,  and 
enterprise  everywhere  feels  and  responds  to  the  increase  of 
the  universal  measure  of  value.  All  this  is  healthful,  because 
slow,  permanent  and  universal.  The  coin  produced  in  any 
country  will  be  retained  there  no  longer  than  its  productions 
and  sales  keep  the  balance  of  trade  in  its  favor.  As  soon  as  it 
becomes  cheaper  (if  this  word  can  be  properly  used  in  regard 
to  the  standard  of  value)  in  the  country  in  which  it  is  pro 
duced  than  in  other  accessible  countries,  or  rather  when  it 
will  purchase  more  in  other  countries  (adding  interest,  the  cost 
or  transportation,  duties,  and  other  necessary  expenses)  than 
in  that  in  which  it  is  produced,  or  when  it  is  required  to  pay 
balances  to  other  countries,  it  flows  to  them  by  a  law  as 
regular  and  as  certain  as  gravitation.  Hence,  although  the 
precious  metals  are  produced  in  considerable  quantities  in  but 
a  few  countries,  they  affect  the  prices  in  all.  Not  so  with  a 
paper  currency,  which  is  local  in  its  use  and  in  its  influence.  Its 
advantages,  when  convertible,  are  admitted ;  for,  if  convertible, 
although  it  swells  the  volume  of  currency,  it  rather  increases 
enterprise  than  prices.  Its  convertibility  prevents  expansion, 
while  its  larger  volume  gives  impetus  to  trade,  and  creates 
greater  demand  for  labor.  But  when  a  paper  currency  is  an 
inconvertible  currency,  and  especially  when,  being  so,  it  is 
made  by  the  sovereign  power  a  legal  tender,  it  becomes  prolific 
of  mischief.  Then  specie  becomes  demonetized,  and  trade  is 
uncertain  in  its  results,  because  the  basis  is  fluctuating ;  then 
prices  advance  as  the  volume  of  currency  increases,  and  require 
as  they  advance  further  additions  to  the  circulating  medium ; 
then  speculation  becomes  rife,  and  '  the  few  are  enriched  at  the 
expense  of  the  many ; '  then  industry  declines,  and  extrava 
gance  is  wanton ;  then,  with  a  diminution  of  products,  and 
consequently  of  exports,  there  is  an  increase  of  imports,  and 


CRITICISM   AND   EXPLAXATIION.  251 

higher  tariffs  are  required  on  account  of  the  general  expansion, 
to  which  they,  in  their  turn,  give  new  stimulus  and  support, 
while  the  protection  intended  to  be  given  by  them  to  home 
industry  is  in  a  great  measure  rendered  inoperative  by  the 
expansion." 

I  was  of  course  abused,  as  every  independent  officer  of  the 
Government  must  expect  to  be.  For  this  I  did  not  care. 
Personal  abuse  did  not  trouble  me,  but  I  was  sensitive  to  fair 
criticism.  As  the  criticism  to  which  I  was  subjected  for  what 
was  considered  an  unnecessary  and  improper  interference,  on 
my  part,  with  the  New  York  market,  and  to  some  extent  for 
my  general  policy  in  the  management  of  the  debt,  seemed  to 
me  to  be,  in  some  instances,  the  result  of  misunderstanding,  I 
thought  it  due  to  those  who  had  honored  me  with  their  confi 
dence  to  say  in  my  last  report,  a  few  words,  not  in  self-defence, 
but  in  explanation,  which  I  did  (after  describing  the  condi 
tion  of  the  Treasury  on  the  1st  of  April,  1865),  as  follows : 

"  The  fall  of  Richmond,  and  the  surrender  of  the  Army 
of  Virginia  under  General  Lee  (which  virtually  closed  the 
war),  had  not  the  effect  of  relieving  the  Treasury.  On. 
the  contrary,  its  embarrassments  were  increased  thereby, 
inasmuch  as  it  seemed  to  leave  the  Government  without 
excuse  for  not  paying  its  debts,  at  the  same  time  that 
popular  appeals  for  subscriptions  to  the  public  loans  were 
divested  of  much  of  their  strength.  As  long  as  the  Govern 
ment  was  in  danger  by  the  continuation  of  hostilities,  the 
patriotism  of  the  people  could  be  successfully  appealed  to 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  money  and  sustaining  the  public 
credit,  without  which  the  war  could  not  be  vigorously  prose 
cuted.  When  hostilities  ceased,  and  the  safety  and  unity  of 
the  government  were  assured,  self-interest  became  again  the 
controlling  power.  It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  then 
generally  supposed  that  the  country  was  already  fully  sup 
plied  with  securities,  and  that  there  was  also  throughout 
the  Union  a  prevailing  apprehension  that  financial  disaster 
would  speedily  follow  the  termination  of  the  war.  The  great 
ness  of  the  emergency  gave  the  Secretary  no  time  to  try  experi 
ments  for  borrowing  on  a  new  security  of  long  time  and  lower 
interest,  and  removed  from  his  mind  all  doubts  or  hesitation  in 
regard  to  the  course  to  be  pursued.  It  was  estimated  that  at 


252     MEX  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

least  $700,000,000  should  be  raised,  in  addition  to  the  revenue 
receipts,  for  the  payment  of  the  requisitions  already  drawn, 
and  those  that  must  soon  follow — preparatory  to  the  disband- 
ment  of  the  great  Union  army — and  of  other  demands  upon 
the  Treasury.  The  anxious  inquiries  then  were,  By  what  means 
can  this  large  amount  of  money  be  raised  ?  and  not.  What  will 
be  the  cost  of  raising  it  ?  How  can  the  soldiers  be  paid,  and 
the  army  be  disbanded,  so  that  the  extraordinary  expenses  of 
the  War  Department  may  be  stopped  ?  and  not,  What  rate  of 
interest  shall  be  paid  for  the  money  ?  These  were  the  inquiries 
pressed  upon  the  Secretary.  lie  answered  them  by  calling  to 
his  aid  the  well-tried  agent  who  had  been  employed  by  his 
immediate  predecessors,  and  by  offering  the  seven  and  three- 
tenths  notes — the  most  popular  loan  ever  offered  to  the  people 
—in  every  city  and  village,  and  by  securing  the  advocacy  of 
the  press,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land/  In 
less  than  four  months  from  the  time  the  work  of  obtaining 
subscriptions  was  actively  commenced,  the  Treasury  was  in  a 
condition  to  meet  every  demand  upon  it. 

"  But  while  the  Treasury  Avas  thus  relieved,  the  character 
of  the  debt  was  by  no  means  satisfactory.  On  the  first  day 
of  September  it  consisted  of  the  following  items  : 

Funded  debt $1,109,568,191  80 

Matured  debt 1,503,020  09 

Temporary  loan 107,148,713  16 

Certificates  of  indebtedness 85,093,000  00 

Five  per  cent,  legal-tender  notes 33,954,230  00 

Compound-interest  legal-tender  notes.  217,024,160  00 

Seven-thirty  notes 830,000,000  00 

United  States  notes,  legal  tenders.  .  .  .  433,160,569  00 

Fractional  currency 26,344,742  51 

Suspended  requisitions  uncalled  for.  .  2,111,000  00 

Total 2,845,907,626  56 

Deduct  cash  in  treasury 88,218,055  13 

Balance 2,757,689,571  43 

"  From  this  statement  it  will  be  perceived  that  $1,276,834,- 
123.25  of  the  public  debt  consisted  of  various  forms  of  tempo 
rary  securities  and  debts  due,  $433,160,569  of  United  States 
notes — the  excess  of  which  over  $400,000,000  having  been  put 
into  circulation  in  payment  of  temporary  loans — and  $26,344,- 
742  of  fractional  currency.  Portions  of  this  temporary  debt 


A    STRONG-   TREASURY   XEEDED.  253 

were  maturing  daily,  and  all  of  it,  including  $18,415,000  of  the 
funded  debt,  was  to  be  provided  for  within  a  period  of  three 
years.  The  seven-thirty  notes  were  by  law  and  the  terms  of 
the  loan  convertible  at  maturity,  at  the  will  of  the  holder, 
into  five-twenty  bonds,  or  payable  like  the  rest  of  these  tempo 
rary  obligations  in  lawful  money.  It  was,  of  course,  necessary 
to  make  provision  for  the  daily  maturing  debt,  and  also  for 
taking  up,  from  time  to  time,  such  portions  of  it  as  could 
be  advantageously  converted  into  bonds,  or  paid  in  currency, 
before  maturity,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  the  necessity  of 
accumulating  large  sums  of  money,  and  of  relieving  the  Treas 
ury  from  the  danger  it  would  be  exposed  to  if  a  very  con 
siderable  portion  of  the  debt  were  permitted  to  mature,  with 
no  other  means  of  paying  it  than  that  afforded  by  sales  of 
bonds  in  a  market  too  uncertain  to  be  confidently  relied  upon 
in  an  emergency.  In  addition  to  the  temporary  Joan,  payment 
of  which  could  be  demanded  on  so  short  a  notice  as  to  make 
it  virtually  a  debt  payable  on  demand,  the  certificates  of 
indebtedness,  which  were  maturing  at  the  rate  of  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  millions  per  month,  the  five  per  cent,  notes,  which 
matured  in  January  following,  and  the  compound-interest 
notes,  there  were  $830,000,000  of  seven-thirty  notes,  which 
would  become  due  as  follows,  viz. : 

August  15,  1867 $300,000,000 

June  15,  1868 300,000,000 

July  15,  1868 230,000,000 

u  As  the  option  of  conversion  was  with  the  holders  of 
these  notes,  it  depended  upon  the  condition  of  the  market 
whether  they  would  be  presented  for  payment  in  lawful 
money,  or  be  exchanged  for  bonds.  JNTo  prudent  man, 
intrusted  with  the  care  of  the  nation's  interest  and  credit,  would 
permit  two  or  three  hundred  millions  of  debt  to  mature  with 
out  making  provision  for  its  payment ;  nor  would  he,  if  it  could 
be  avoided,  accumulate  large  sums  of  money  in  the  Treasury 
which  would  not  be  called  for,  if  the  price  of  bonds  should  be 
such  as  to  make  the  conversion  of  the  notes  preferable  to 
their  payment  in  lawful  money.  The  policy  of  the  Secretary 
was,  therefore,  as  he  remarked  in  a  former  report,  determined 
by  the  condition  of  the  Treasury  and  the  country,  and  by  the 
character  of  the  debt.  It  was  simply,  first,  to  put  and  keep  the 
Treasury  in  such  condition  as  not  only  to  be  prepared  to  pay 
all  claims  upon  presentation,  but  also^to  be  strong  enough  to 
prevent  the  success  of  any  combinations  that  might  be  formed 


254     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

to  control  its  management ;  and,  second,  to  take  up  quietly,  and 
in  advance  of  their  maturity,  by  payment  or  conversion,  such 
portions  of  the  temporary  debt  as  would  obviate  the  necessity 
of  accumulating  large  currency  balances  in  the  Treasury,  and  at 
the  same  time  relieve  it  from  the  danger  of  being  forced  to  a 
further  issue  of  legal-tender  notes,  or  to  a  sale  of  bonds  at 
whatever  price  they  might  command.  In  carrying  out  this 
policy,  it  seemed  also  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  to  have 
due  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  and  to  prevent,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  work  of  funding  from  disturbing  legitimate 
business.  As  financial  trouble  has  almost  invariably  followed 
closely  upon  the  termination  of  protracted  wars,  it  was  gen 
erally  feared,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  that  such  trouble 
would  be  unavoidable  at  the  close  of  the  great  and  expensive 
war  in  which  the  United  States  had  been  for  four  years 
engaged.  This,  of  course,  it  was  important  to  avoid,  as  its 
occurrence  might  not  only  render  funding  difficult,  but  might 
prostrate  those  great  interests  upon  which  the  Government 
depended  for  its  revenues.  It  was,  and  constantly  has  been, 
therefore,  the  aim  of  the  Secretary  so  to  administer  the  Treas 
ury,  while  borrowing  money  and  funding  the  temporary 
obligations,  as  to  prevent  a  commercial  crisis,  and  to  keep  the 
business  of  the  country  as  steady  as  was  possible  on  the  basis 
of  an  irredeemable  and  constantly  fluctuating  currency. 
Whether  his  efforts  have  contributed  to  this  end  or  not,  he 
does  not  undertake  to  say ;  but  the  fact  is  unquestioned,  that 
a  great  war  has  been  closed,  large  loans  have  been  effected, 
heavy  revenues  have  been  collected,  and  some  thirteen  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  of  temporary  obligations  have  been  paid 
or  funded,  and  a  great  debt  brought  into  manageable  shape, 
not  only  without  a  financial  crisis,  bub  without  any  disturbance 
to  the  ordinary  business  of  the  country.  To  accomplish  these 
things  successfully,  the  Secretary  deemed  it  necessary,  as  has 
been  before  stated,  that  the  Treasury  should  be  kept  con 
stantly  in  a  strong  condition,  with  power  to  prevent  the  credit 
of  the  Government  and  the  great  interests  of  the  people  from 
being  placed  at  the  mercy  of  adverse  influences.  Notwith 
standing  the  magnitude  and  character  of  the  debt,  this  power 
the  Treasury  has,  for  the  last  three  years,  possessed ;  and  it  has 
been  the  well-known  existence,  rather  than  the  exercise  of  it, 
which  has,  in  repeated  instances,  saved  the  country  from  panic 
and  disaster.  The  gold  reserve,  the  maintenance  of  which  has 
subjected  the  Secretary  to  constant  and  bitter  criticism,  has 
given  a  confidence  to  the  holders  of  our  securities,  at  home 
and  abroad,  by  the  constant  evidence  which  it  exhibited  of  the 


THE  TREASURY  AND  THE  MARKET.          255 

ability  of  the  Government,  without  depending  upon  purchases 
in  the  market  to  pay  the  interest  upon  the  public  debt,  and  a 
steadiness  to  trade,  by  preventing  violent  fluctuations  in  the 
convertible  value  of  the  currency,  which  have  been  a  more 
than  ample  compensation  to  the  country  for  any  loss  of 
interest  that  may  have  been  sustained  thereby.  If  the  gold 
in  the  Treasury  had  been  sold  down  to  what  was  absolutely 
needed  for  payment  of  the  interest  on  the  public  debt,  not 
only  would  the  public  credit  have  been  endangered,  but  the 
currency,  and,  consequently,  the  entire  business  of  the  country, 
would  have  been  constantly  subject  to  the  dangerous  power 
of  speculative  combinations. 

-x-  •*  -x-          *  •::-          #          *  -x-  •*  -x- 

"  Complaint  has  been  made  that  in  the  administration  of 
the  Treasury  Department,  since  the  war,  there  has  been  too 
much  of  interference  with  the  stock  and  money  market.  This 
complaint,  when  honestly  made,  has  been  the  result  of  a  want 
of  reflection,  or  of  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  financial  con 
dition  of  the  Government.  The  transactions  of  the  Treasury 
have,  from  necessity,  been  connected  with  the  stock  and 
money  market  of  New  York.  If  the  debt  after  the  close  of 
the  war  had  been  a  funded  debt,  with  nothing  to  be  done  in 
relation  to  it  but  to  pay  the  accruing  interest,  or  if  business 
had  been  conducted  on  a  specie  basis,  and  consequently  been 
free  from  the  constant  changes  to  which  it  has  been  and  must 
be  subject — as  long  as  there  is  any  considerable  difference 
between  the  legal  and  commercial  standard  of  value — the 
Treasury  could  have  been  managed  with  entire  independence 
of  the  stock  exchange  or  the  gold-room.  Such,  however,  was 
not  the  fact.  More  than  one-half  of  the  national  debt,  accord 
ing  to  foregoing  exhibits,  consisted  of  temporary  obligations, 
which  were  to  be  paid  in  lawful  money  or  converted  into 
bonds,  and  there  was  in  circulation  a  large  amount  of  irre 
deemable  promises  constantly  changing  in  their  convertible 
value.  The  Secretary,  therefore,  could  not  be  indifferent  to 
the  condition  of  the  market,  nor  avoid  connection  with  it, 
for  it  was,  in  fact,  with  the  market  he  had  to  deal.  lie  would 
have  been  happy  had  it  been  otherwise.  If  bonds  had  to  be 
sold  to  provide  the  means  for  paying  the  debts  that  were  pay 
able  in  lawful  money,  it  was  a  matter  of  great  importance  to 
the  Treasury  that  the  price  of  bonds  should  not  be  depressed 
by  artificial  processes.  If  the  seven-thirty  notes  were  to  be 
converted  into  five-twenty  bonds,  it  was  equally  important 
that  they  should  sustain  such  relations  to  each  other,  in  regard 
to  prices,  that  conversions  would  be  effected.  If  bonds  were 


256     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

at  a  discount,  the  notes  would  be  presented  for  payment  in 
legal  tenders ;  and  these  could  only  be  obtained  by  further 
issues,  or  the  sale  of  some  kind  of  securities.  For  three  years 
therefore,  the  state  of  the  market  has  been  a  matter  of  deep 
solicitude  to  the  Secretary.  If  he  had  been  indifferent  to  it,  or 
failed  carefully  to  study  the  influences  that  controlled  it,  or 
had  hesitated  to  exercise  the  power  with  which  Congress  had 
clothed  him,  for  successfully  funding  the  temporary  debt  by 
conversions  or  sales,  he  would  have  been  false  to  his  trust. 
The  task  of  converting  a  thousand  millions  of  temporary  obli 
gations  into  a  funded  debt,  on  a  market  constantly  subject  to 
natural  and  artificial  fluctuations,  without  depressing  the  price 
of  bonds,  and  without  disturbing  the  business  of  the  country, 
however  it  may  be  regarded  now,  when  the  work  has  been 
accomplished,  was,  while  it  was  being  performed,  an  exceed 
ingly  delicate  one.  It  is  but  simple  justice  to  say  that  its 
successful  accomplishment  is,  in  a  great  measure,  attributable 
to  the  judicious  action  of  the  Assistant  Treasurer  in  New  York, 
Mr.  Van  Dyck. 

'•  Similar  complaint  has  also  been  made  of  the  manner  in 
which  gold  and  bonds  have  been  disposed  of,  by  what  has 
been  styled  '  secret  sales ; '  and  yet  precisely  the  same  course 
has  been  pursued  in  these  sales  that  careful  and  prudent  men 
pursue  on  their  own  account.  The  sales  have  been  made  when 
currency  was  needed  and  prices  were  satisfactory.  It  was 
not  considered  wise  or  prudent  to  advise  the  dealers  precisely 
when  and  to  what  amount  sales  were  to  be  made  (no  sane 
man  operating  on  his  own  account  would  have  done  this),  but 
all  sales  of  gold  have  been  made  in  the  open  market,  and  of 
bonds  by  agents  or  the  Assistant  Treasurer  in  New  York,  in 
the  ordinary  way,  with  a  view  of  obtaining  the  very  best 
prices,  and  with  the  least  possible  disturbance  of  business.  In 
the  large  transactions  of  the  Treasury,  agents  have  been  indis 
pensable,  but  none  have  been  employed  when  the  work  could 
be  done  equally  well  by  the  officers  of  the  department. 
Whether  done  by  agents  or  officers,  the  Secretary  has  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  has  not  been  done  skilfully  and 
honestly,  as  well  as  economically. 

#***##*# 

"  The  Secretary  has  thus  referred  to  a  few  points  in  his 
administration  of  the  Treasury,  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 
some  things  which  may  have  been  imperfectly  understood, 
and  not  for  the  purpose  of  defending  his  own  action.  Deeply 
sensible  of  the  responsibilities  resting  upon  him,  but  neither 
appalled  nor  disheartened  by  them,  he  has  performed  the 


INDEBTEDNESS   TO   ASSISTANTS.  257 

duties  of  his  office  according  to  the  best  of  his  judgment  and 
the  lights  that  were  before  him,  without  deprecating  criticism; 
and  plainly  and  earnestly  presented  his  own  views  without 
seeking  popular  favor.  It  has  been  his  good  fortune  to  have 
had  for  his  immediate  predecessors  two  of  the  ablest  men  in 
the  country,  to  whose  judicious  labors  he  has  been  greatly 
indebted  for  any  success  that  may  have  attended  his  adminis 
tration  of  the  Treasury.  Nor  is  he  under  less  obligation  to 
his  associates,  the  officers  and  leading  clerks  of  the  depart 
ment,  whose  ability  and  whose  devotion  to  the  public  service 
have  commanded  nis  respect  and  admiration." 

17 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Scientific  Club — Dr.  F.  A.  P.  Barnard — University  of  Mississippi — Pros 
perous  until  Outbreak  of  War — Dr.  Barnard  Leaves  Mississippi  and  Comes 
to  Washington — Professor  Henry — His  High  Character  and  Large  Acquire 
ments — His  Unselfishness — Professor  Bache,  great-grandson  of  Benjamin 
Franklin — Dr.  Peter  Parker — His  Eminence  as  a  Surgeon — His  Diplo 
matic  Relations  to  the  United  States — Simon  Neweomb — High  Reputation 
as  an  Astronomer — Also  as  a  Writer  upon  Political  Economy — J.  E. 
Hilgard — His  Varied  Services — George  C.  Schaeffer— A.  A.  Humphreys, 
Distinguished  as  a  General  and  Engineer— Jonathan  H.  Lane — His  Hobby 
— William  B.  Taylor — His  Valuable  Work  in  the  Smithsonian — Titian 
H.  Peale— Benjamin  N.  Craig— J.  M.  Gillis— J.  N.  McComb— 0.  M.  Poe— 
M.  C.  Meigs — His  Great  Services  as  Quartermaster  General — General 
George  H.  Thomas,  the  "Rock  of  Chicamauga" — General  John  A.  Logan 
— General  P.  H.  Sheridan — General  William  T.  Sherman — Brief  Sketch 
of  his  Campaigns. 

SOME  of  the  pleasantest  acquaintances  which  I  have  formed 
have  been  purely  accidental.  When  I  went  to  Washing 
ton,  in  1863,  to  organize  the  National  Currency  Bureau,  I 
obtained  board  at  one  of  the  houses  which  had  been  built  by 
General  Cass,  and  which  is  now  a  part  of  the  Arlington  Hotel, 
but  could  not  be  furnished  with  a  desirable  room  there.  I 
therefore  applied  for  lodging  at  a  house  a  short  distance  from 
my  boarding-house  which  I  understood  was  occupied  by  a  gen 
tleman  and  his  wife  who  might  be  willing  to  let  one  of  their 
rooms.  The  door  was  opened  by  a  lady  like  woman,  who,  upon 
being  informed  of  the  object  of  my  visit,  said  that  she  had  a 
pleasant  room  which  she  would  be  glad  to  have  me  take,  if  it 
suited  me.  It  was  very  cheaply  and  scantily  furnished,  but  as 
it  fronted  the  south,  and  was  of  good  size,  I  was  glad  to  secure 
it.  In  the  course  of  our  conversation,  I  learned  that  she  and 
her  husband,  Dr.  Barnard,  with  one  servant,  were  the  only 
occupants,  and  had  only  recently  taken  possession  of  the  house. 


F.    A.    P.    BARNARD.  2f)9 

Mv  impression,  therefore,  was,  that  Dr.  Barnard  was  a  country 
doctor  who  was  desirous  of  providing  in  part  for  the  payment 
of  the  rent  of  his  house  by  letting  one  or  more  of  the  rooms. 
A  few  days  after  I  was  thus  domiciled,  Mrs.  Barnard  said  to 
me  that  she  would  be  pleased  to  introduce  me  to  her  husband, 
and,  as  I  happened  to  have  a  leisure  half  hour,  I  thanked  her 
for  her  kindness,  and  was  at  once  in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Bar 
nard,  a  middle-aged  man,  of  graceful  manners,  with  a  handsome 
and  highly  intellectual  face.  It  did  not  take  me  long  to  dis 
cover  that  instead  of  being  a  common  country  doctor,  he  was 
a  gentleman  of  superior  culture.  Noticing  (after  we  had  con 
versed  for  some  minutes  upon  ordinary  topics)  that  my  eyes 
wrere  turned  towards  his  table,  upon  which  were  some  sheets  of 
paper  covered  with  figures,  he  said  that  he  was  engaged  when 
I  came  in  in  calculating  the  explosive  poAver  of  gunpowder. 
As  there  was  a  good  deal  of  powder  in  use  at  the  time,  I  ven 
tured  to  ask  him  if  he  Avas  employed  in  the  War  or  Navy 
Department.  "  No,"  he  replied  ;  "  I  am  a  clerk  in  the  Coast 
Survey."  He  must  have  seen  that  I  was  surprised  at  his 
answer,  for  he  wrent  on  to  say  that  if  I  had  a  few  minutes  to 
spare,  he  would  tell  me  who  he  was,  and  how  he  happened  to 
be  in  Washington  doing  clerical  work  for  the  Coast  Survey. 
His  story  wras  deeply  interesting.  I  wish  I  could  repeat  his 
graphic  description  of  the  political  and  social  condition  of  Mis 
sissippi  before  the  war,  and  of  the  change  after  hostilities  had 
commenced  ;  of  how  opposed  the  people  were  to  secession  when 
the  matter  was  first  talked  about ;  how  the  ordinance  of  seces 
sion  was  adopted  by  the  influence  and  activity  of  their  polit 
ical  leaders,  and  how  united  all  classes  became,  after  the  war 
had  been  commenced.  As  I  cannot  do  this,  I  will  condense 
his  narrative,  and  give  briefly  my  recollection  of  it.  He  was  a 
native  of  Massachusetts,  but  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
Connecticut.  Having  concluded  to  make  the  South  his  home, 
he  accepted  the  professorship  of  Mathematics  and  Natural 
Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Alabama,  which  he  held  for  a 


260  MEX   AXD    MEASURES   OF  HALF   A    CENTURY. 

number  of  years,  and  until  1850,  when  he  was  elected  presi 
dent  of  the  University  of  Mississippi,  at  Oxford,  which  he 
hoped  to  be  instrumental  in  making  the  leading  literary  insti 
tution  of  the  South,  and  a  rival  of  older  institutions  of  the 
Northern  States.  Everything  went  on  prosperously  with  him 
self  and  the  college  until  South  Carolina  passed  an  ordinance 
of  withdrawal  from  the  Union.  Then  the  minds  of  the  stu 
dents  were  diverted  from  books,  and  turned  to  politics.  When 
Mississippi  adopted  a  similar  ordinance,  the  political  excitement 
increased,  and  little  was  talked  about  but  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  and  the  establishment  of  a  Southern  Confederacy,  of 
which  Mississippi  was  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  mem 
bers.  War,  however,  was  not  contemplated  as  the  result  of 
secession,  until  Fort  Sumter  had  been  captured,  and  President 
Lincoln  had  called  for  troops  to  enforce  obedience  to  the  laws. 
Then  appeals  were  made  to  the  State  pride  and  the  chivalry 
of  the  students,  and  with  so  much  success  that  the  classes  were 
rapidly  depleted,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  Aveeks  the  Univer 
sity  of  Mississippi  was  a  university  with  a  president  and  one 
or  two  professors,  but  without  students.  But  this  was  not  all. 
President  Barnard  was  a  Northern  man,  known  to  be  strongly 
attached  to  the  Union,  and,  of  course,  strongly  opposed  to 
secession.  His  situation,  therefore,  was  a  very  unpleasant  one. 
All  Union  men  were  regarded  with  suspicion.  In  many  parts 
of  the  South  they  had  been  treated  with  indignity ;  in  some 
places,  with  violence.  He  noticed  that,  day  by  da}7,  man}7  who 
had  been  his  friends  were  turning  their  backs  upon  him,  and 
by  none  was  he  openly  treated  with  cordiality.  But  he  was 
attached  to  Southern  people,  and  his  heart  was  with  the 
university.  What  he  should  do  under  these  circumstances 
became,  therefore,  a  question  for  anxious  thought.  While  he 
was  thus  troubled  by  uncertainty  in  regard  to  what  his  action 
ought  to  be,  he  was  privately  waited  upon  by  some  of  the 
leading  citizens  of  the  town,  and  informed  that  the  hostility  of 
the  people  to  Northern  men  had  become  so  bitter  that  his 


THE   SCIENTIFIC    CLUB. 

safety,  and  possibly  that  of  his  family,  depended  upon  their 
leaving  Mississippi  at  once.  Had  he  been  alone,  he  might 
have  been  disposed  to  remain  at  his  post,  no  matter  what  might 
be  the  consequences  to  himself  ;  but  the  safety  of  his  wife  was 
a  matter  superior  to  all  other  considerations,  and  the  next 
day  he  was,  with  her,  on  his  way  to  the  North.  Their  journey 
was  not  without  adventure  and  peril,  but  they  reached  Wash 
ington  in  safety,  and  here  he  had  found  temporary  employment 
in  the  Coast  Survey.  Some  months  after  I  was  introduced  to 
him,  he  was  recommended  for  a  professorship  in  Columbia  Col 
lege,  New  York.  Tie  did  not  obtain  the  professorship,  but  not 
long  after  he  was  elected  president  of  the  same  college,  which 
position  he  fills  with  distinguished  honor  and  ability.  Justice 
was  more  than  even-handed  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Barnard.  From 
the  presidency  of  an  institution  in  its  infancy,  with  very 
limited  endowments,  and  in  a  sparsely  settled  State,  he  was 
advanced  to  the  presidency  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  richest 
colleges  in  the  country,  and  at  its  commercial  capital. 

My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Barnard  was  a  great  advantage 
to  me.  It  was  pleasant  and  profitable  in  itself,  and  it  opened 
the  way  for  my  introduction  to  men  of  a  different,  and  in 
many  respects,  higher  stamp  than  I  had  known  before.  He 
said  to  me  one  Saturday  that  the  Scientific  Club  would  meet 
in  the  evening  at  the  house  of  one  of  its  members,  and  that  he 
would  be  glad  if  I  would  join  him  in  attending  it,  which  I 
did.  There  were  present  ten  or  twelve  gentlemen,  some  of 
whom  I  knew  by  reputation,  but  to  all  of  whom  I  was  person 
ally  a  stranger.  I  was  greatly  interested  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  subject  under  discussion  was  handled — so  interested 
that  I  accepted  a  second  invitation,  and  before  the  next  meet 
ing  I  received,  to  my  surprise,  a  note  from  the  secretary 
informing  me  that  I  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  club. 
I  was  surprised,  because  I  understood  that  the  membership 
was  confined  to  persons  of  scientific  attainments.  Happen 
ing,  a  few  days  after,  to  meet  Professor  Henry,  to  whom  I 


262     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUEY. 

had  been  introduced  at  the  club,  I  said  to  him  that  I  had 
no  knowledge  of  the  sciences,  and  that  I  feared  that  I  had 
been  elected  by  mistake.  "  ]STot  so,"  he  replied.  "  Finance  is  a 
subject  in  which  the  country  is  just  now  deeply  interested,  and 
the  club  wants  a  member  who  knows  something  about  it." 
My  admission  to  this  club  was  of  very  great  service  to  me, 
intellectually  and  socially.  The  most  delightful  hours  which 
I  spent  in  Washington  were  spent  at  its  meetings.  It  was  a 
club  without  being  a  corporation.  It  had  neither  a  constitu 
tion  nor  by-laws,  and  no  officer  but  a  secretary.  It  met  everv 
Saturday  evening  (except  during  the  summer)  at  the  house  of 
some  one  of  its  members.  The  subjects  discussed  were  chiefly 
scientific,  and  usually  such  as  the  public  was  interested  in  at 
the  time.  The  discussions  were  always  able,  and  when,  as  was 
often  the  case,  the  views  of  the  members  were  not  in  accord, 
they  were  warm  and  keen.  Xo  one  spoke  who  had  not  some 
thing  to  say,  and  he  fared  badly  who  advanced  theories  he 
was  unable  to  maintain.  The  meetings  closed  with  a  supper, 
the  appetites  for  which  had  been  sharpened  by  mental  exercise. 
The  members  at  the  time  were,  Joseph  Henry,  A.  D.  Bache, 
Peter  Parker,  Simon  Newcomb,  J.  E.  Ililgard,  George  C. 
Schaeffer,  A.  A.  Humphreys,  Jonathan  II.  Lane,  William  B. 
Taylor,  Titian  II.  Peale,  Benjamin  1ST.  Craig,  J.  M.  Gillis,  J. 
K  McComb,  O.  M.  Poe,  M.  C.  Meigs,  and  Dr.  F.  A.  P.  Bar 
nard  of  whom  I  have  spoken.  All  of  them  were  interesting 
men — all  well  known  to  each  other,  and  some  of  them  to  the 
public  by  their  scientific  and  literary  attainments;  there  was 
not  one  who  would  not  have  been  distinguished  in  any  literary 
and  scientific  club  in  this  country,  or  in  any  other  ;  there  was 
not  a  money-worshipper  or  time-server  among  them  all. 

At  the  head  of  these  men  was  Joseph  Henry,  Secretary  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institute,  whose  life  was  largely  devoted  to 
carrying  out  the  object  of  its  founder — "the  increase  and 
diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men."  The  acquaintance  which 
I  formed  with  Professor  Henry  at  the  club  ripened  into  friend- 


JOSEPH   HENRY.  263 

ship,  which  continued  as  long  as  he  lived.  When  I  went  to 
London  in  1870,  he  gave  to  me  the  kindest  and  most  compli 
mentary  letter  that  I  ever  received  from  any  one.  During  the 
war,  his  attention  had  been  turned  to  financial  questions,  and 
it  so  happened  that  the  opinions  which  he  had  formed  by 
thought  and  study  were  in  harmony  with  mine — the  result  of 
observation  and  experience.  This  fact  increased  the  intimacy 
between  us.  In  looking  after  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the 
Smithsonian,  and  in  attending  the  meetings  of  the  Light-House 
Board,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  he  often  came  to  the  Treas 
ury  Department,  and  while  there,  he  rarely  failed  to  step  into 
my  room  to  bid  me  good  cheer.  Of  the  views  wThich  I 
expressed  in  my  annual  reports  upon  the  currency  and  other 
questions,  he  heartily  approved.  Since  my  introduction  to 
Professor  Henry  in  1863,  I  have  met  many  distinguished  men, 
but  none  in  whom  so  many  grand  and  admirable  qualities  were 
combined.  Modest  and  unassuming,  he  was  a  man  of  varied 
and  extensive  learning.  Firm  in  his  convictions,  he  was  free 
from  intolerance.  While  other  scientific  men  became  heated 
in  the  discussion  of  opposing  theories,  he  presented  his  own 
opinions  with  a  calmness  and  dignity  which  commanded 
respect  and  disarmed  criticism.  He  was  absolutely  free  from 
the  jealousies  which  so  frequently  exist  among  gifted  men. 
He  rejoiced  over  every  contribution  to  science — even?"  dis 
covery  which  tended  to  the  well-being  of  man.  Religious  by 
tehiperament,  and  seeing  nothing  in  scientific  discoveries 
inconsistent  with  revelation,  he  was  a  conscientious  and 
prayerful  Christian.  Charitable  beyond  his  means,  and  neg 
lectful  of  his  own  pecuniary  interests,  he  was  careful  and  pru 
dent  in  the  management  of  the  funds  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti 
tute,  which  he  regarded  as  a  precious  legacy  to  be  used  for 
no  other  purpose  than  that  designed  by  Smithson.  It  wras 
against  his  judgment  that  the  Smithsonian  building  was 
erected,  as  it  involved  an  expenditure  of  money  which  ought 
to  be  used  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.  The  character  of 


264  MEN  AND   MEASURES   OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Professor  Henry  is  illustrated  by  what  he  said  about  securing 
for  himself  the  pecuniary  benefits  of  his  discoveries  in  electro- 
magnetism,  as  related  by  Dr.  Dickerson  in  his  address  at 
Princeton  on  the  10th  of  June,  1883.  "  At  the  time  of  mak 
ing  my  original  experiments  in  electro-magnetism  in  Albany,  I 
was  urged  by  a  friend  to  take  out  a  patent,  both  for  its  appli 
cation  to  machinery  and  to  the  telegraph,  but  this  I  declined 
to  do,  on  the  ground  that  I  did  not  then  consider  it  compatible 
wTith  the  dignity  of  science  to  confine  the  benefits  which  might 
be  derived  from  it  to  the  exclusive  use  of  any  individual/'  This 
was  carrying  self-abnegation  to  an  extreme ;  but  it  exhibited 
the  nobility  of  the  man.  His  mission  was  to  work  for  others, 
not  for  himself,  and  to  this  he  was  faithful  through  life.  That 
the  telegraph  was  based  mainly  upon  his  successful  experi 
ments  in  electro-magnetism,  is  now  admitted  by  those  who  have 
carefully  studied  its  history.  Wheatston  and  Cooke,  in  Eng 
land,  and  Steinhiel,  in  Munich,  under  whose  patents  the  tele 
graph  was  brought  into  use  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  Morse,  the  patentee  in  the  United  States,  were  all  indebted 
to  Henry  for  a  large  part  of  what  they  claimed  to  be  their  own 
discoveries.  Had  he  followed  the  advice  of  his  friends  in 
Albany,  he  would  have  held  the  key  of  telegraphy  in  the 
United  States,  and  controlled  the  telegraph  long  enough  to 
have  made  himself  rich.  He  never  expressed  regret  that  he  did 
not  avail  himself  of  the  protection  of  the  patent  laws ;  no  one 
ever  heard  from  him  a  word  of  complaint  that  other  men  hall 
reaped,  in  honor  and  money,  the  fruits  of  his  labors,  but  he 
would  have  been  more  than  human  if  he  had  not  been  morti 
fied  by  their  failure  to  give  to  him  the  credit  which  was  his 
due.  Professor  Henry  was  thoroughly  American  in  his 
loyalty  to  the  Government,  and  in  his  admiration  of  our 
republican  institutions,  but  in  scientific  pursuits  he  was  a  citi 
zen  of  the  Avorld.  It  was  for  man  that  he  labored  ;  and  when 
his  last  hour  was  approaching,  he  only  regretted  that  he  had 
not  done  more.  His  name  will  be  honored  as  long:  as  eminent 


PETER  PARKER.  265 

attainments,  spotless  integrity,  lofty  and  unselfish  endeavors, 
are  honored  by  mankind. 

So  firmly  attached  did  I  become  to  the  members  of  this 
club,  and  so  highly  did  I  honor  them,  that  I  cannot  forbear  to 
say  a  few  words  about  each. 

Alexander  Dallas  Bache  was  a  great-grandson  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  a  man  of  immense  working  power,  and  of  extensive 
scientific  acquirements.  He  was  superior  to  his  great-grand  sire 
in  mathematics,  and  scarcely  his  inferior  in  general  learning. 
His  name  was  honored  abroad  as  "well  as  at  home  for  his  valu 
able  contributions  to  science.  He  rendered  the  Government 
great  service  in  the  various  positions  which  he  held,  especially 
as  Superintendent  of  the  Coast  Survey.  In  practical  science 
he  had  no  superior  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Peter  Parker  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College.  After 
studying  medicine  and  theology,  he  went  to  China  as  a  medi 
cal  missionary.  His  success  in  the  treatment  of  diseases, 
especially  diseases  of  the  eye  (which  were  very  common  among 
the  Chinese),  was  so  extraordinary  that  his  fame  extended 
throughout  the  empire.  The  hospital  which  he  established 
was  thronged  every  day  with  applicants  for  treatment.  Dr. 
Parker  was  in  China  when  diplomatic  relations  were  opened 
between  that  country  and  the  United  States,  and  by  his 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese  language,  and  of  the  habits  of  the 
people,  and  by  his  sound  judgment,  he  was  able  to  render 
efficient  aid  to  Caleb  Gushing,  the  first  Commissioner  of  the 
United  States  to  China,  in  the  preparation  of  a  treaty  between 
the  two  countries.  To  John  "W.  Davis,  who  succeeded  Mr. 
Gushing,  his  services  as  an  interpreter,  and  his  great  popularity 
with  the  Chinese  officials,  were  also  very  valuable,  and  they 
were  handsomely  acknowledged.  When  there  was  no  United 
States  Commissioner,  as  was  often  and  for  considerable  periods 
the  case,  he  acted  as  charge  d'affaires.  Twice  he  returned  to 
the  United  States  for  the  recovery  of  his  health,  which  had 
been  impaired  by  the  climate,  and  his  manifold  and  arduous 


266  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

labors,  and  when  he  went  back  in  1855,  it  was  as  Commissioner, 
which  office  he  held  for  t\vo  years,  during  which  time  he  care 
fully  revised  the  treaty  which  he  had  assisted  Mr.  Gushing  to 
make  in  1844.  Few  men  can  look  back  upon  a  long  life  with 
greater  satisfaction  than  can  Dr.  Parker.  No  foreigner  had 
better  opportunities  than  he  for  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
Chinese,  their  habits,  and  the  character  of  their  government ; 
and  no  one  could  have  used  these  opportunities  to  greater 
advantage,  both  to  China  and  to  the  United  States. 

No  man  of  his  age  has  a  wider  reputation  as  an  investi 
gator  in  both  theoretical  and  practical  astronomy  than  Simon 
Newcomb,  or  better  merits  the  high  reputation  which  he  has 
acquired.  His  relations  with  the  prominent  astronomers  and 
other  scientific  men  of  Europe  are  intimate,  and  he  is  held  by 
them  in  very  high  regard.  He  has  been,  and  still  is,  a  good 
deal  interested  in  the  subject  of  political  economy,  and  he  has 
written  upon  it  with  so  much  ability  that  his  readers  might 
suppose  that  he  had  made  it  a  life-long  study,  and  was  a  pro 
fessor  of  that  science,  instead  of  being  a  professor  of  astron 
omy.  He  has  also  written  upon  many  other  subjects  of  popu 
lar  interest,  and  has  thus  made  himself  liable  to  the  criticism 
of  ''  scattering  his  fire."  A  man  who,  before  he  was  twenty- 
five  years  old,  prepared  and  published  astronomical  works  of  a 
very  high  order,  and  before  he  was  forty  was  elected  an 
associate  of  the  Astronomical  Society  of  England,  and  a  cor 
responding  member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  and  received 
a  gold  medal  for  his  tables  of  the  most  distant  planets,  ought 
to  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the  very  highest  place 
among  the  astronomers  of  the  world.  This  place  he  can  only 
secure  by  devoting  himself  more  exclusively  than  he  has 
hitherto  done  to  astronomical  pursuits. 

J.  E.  Hilgard  has  spent  a  good  part  of  his  life  in  the  Coast 
Survey,  in  which  his  services  were  highly  appreciated.  Dur 
ing  the  long  illness  of  Professor  Bache,  and  the  frequent 
absence  of  his  successor,  Professor  Pierce,  Mr.  Ililgard  had 


A.    A.    HUMPHREYS.  267 

charge  of  the  bureau  ;  and  after  the  death  of  Captain  Patter 
son,  he  was  appointed  superintendent  by  President  Arthur. 
Owing  to  a  severe  domestic  affliction  (the  death  of  an  only  and 
talented  son)  and  his  overwork,  the  business  of  the  bureau 
became  so  deranged  as  to  necessitate  his  resignation.  He 
lacked  the  executive  ability  for  which  his  predecessor,  Captain 
Patterson,  was  so  greatly  distinguished,  but  his  uprightness 
and  devotion  to  his  duties  were  beyond  question.  In  the 
extent  and  variety  of  his  acquirements  he  has  few  equals.  -  His 
reputation  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  for  scientific 
acquirements  is  such  as  any  man  might  be  proud  of. 

George  C.  Schaeffer  was  an  encyclopedia  of  knowledge. 
No  subject  was  ever  discussed  in  the  club  that  he  did  not 
appear  to  be  master  of.  He  was  then,  I  think,  librarian  in  the 
Interior  Department.  He  had  been  one  of  the  examiners  in 
the  Patent  Office,  and  had  been  transferred  to  the  library 
because  (as  his  friends  supposed)  he  had  become  obnoxious  to 
some  patent  lawyers  by  his  superior  knowledge  and  perfect 
integrity.  He  was  a  prodigy  of  learning.  I  held  him  in  the 
highest  respect. 

A.  A.  Humphreys  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  topo 
graphical  engineers  of  the  country.  He  was  a  major-general 
by  brevet,  and  the  chief  engineer  of  the  army.  A  brave  and 
skilful  soldier,  he  earned  high  honor  by  his  conduct  as  a  divi 
sion  commander  in  the  battle  at  Gettysburg,  and  in  the  Vir 
ginia  campaigns  of  186-i  and  1865.  Not  only  was  he  a  gallant 
soldier  and  very  able  engineer,  but  he  was  a  vigorous  and 
graceful  writer.  His  reports  upon  the  physics  and  hydraulics 
of  the  Mississippi  were  regarded  at  the  time  as  being  very  able 
and  well  written.  His  history  of  the  last  Virginia  campaign 
is  one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  the  history  of  our 
great  civil  war. 

Jonathan  II.  Lane  was  in  his  personal  appearance  one  of 
the  most  unattractive  persons  that  I  ever  met,  but  he  was  a 
man  of  large  scientific  acquirements.  His  hobby  was  to  ere- 


268     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ate  by  mechanical  contrivances  or  chemical  means  intense  cold 
— cold  which  should  equal  in  the  opposite  direction  the  heat 
of  the  sun.  To  what  use  the  cold  was  to  be  applied,  he  never 
undertook  to  explain ;  but  he  worked  on  with  unflagging  zeal, 
trying  one  invention  after  another  as  long  as  he  lived,  accom 
plishing  nothing,  but  never  discouraged  in  his  pursuits. 

William  B.  Taylor  held,  and  still  holds,  high  rank  among 
the  scientific  men  of  Washington.  He  was  then  an  exam 
iner  in  the  Patent  Office,  the  duties  of  which  he  performed 
with  great  ability.  He  is  now  employed,  and  is  doing  good 
work,  in  the  Smithsonian.  Valuable  articles  from  his  pen 
are  sometimes  seen,  but  he  avoids  notoriety,  is  rarely  seen 
in  society,  and  seems  to  be  perfectly  content  with  such  enjoy 
ments  as  he  finds  in  doing  his  duty  as  the  head  of  one  of  the 
divisions  in  the  Smithsonian,  and  in  familiar  intercourse  with  a 
few  personal  friends.  By  those  who  know  him  well,  he  is  con 
sidered  the  most  learned  man  in  Washington. 

Titian  II.  Peale  was  a  brother  of  Rembrandt  Peale,  and 
was  himself  an  artist  of  very  considerable  merit.  He  was 
an  examiner  in  the  Patent  Office.  He  was  a  man  of  varied 
accomplishments.  He  had  seen  a  good  deal  of  the  world  and 
been  a  careful  observer.  He  was  a  good  talker  and  a  most 
agreeable  companion.  His  interest  then  centred  in  photogra 
phy,  to  the  advancement  of  which  he  contributed  much  by  his 
investigations  and  discoveries. 

Benjamin  N.  Craig  was  an  odd  stick,  but  he  was  a  hard 
student,  and  one  of  the  clearest  headed  men  connected  with  the 
club.  He  was  employed  in  the  Medical  Museum,  where  he 
found  work  that  suited  him  exactly.  He  was  not  a  ready 
speaker,  but  when  he  did  speak  it  was  with  concentration  of 
force  that  few  of  his  associates  could  equal,  and  none  could 
excel. 

J.  M.  Gillis  was  a  naval  officer  in  charge,  if  I  rightly 
recollect,  of  the  National  Observatory.  I  did  not  know 
him  well,  but  his  merit  was  proved  by  the  fact  that  Pro- 


M.    C.    MEIGS.  269 

fessor  Henry,  who  knew  him  thoroughly,  held  him  in  very 
high  esteem.  % 

J.  X.  McComb  was  also  a  naval  officer,  of  whom  I  heard 
expressions  of  high  regard,  but  whom  I  had  not  the  pleasure 
of  meeting. 

0.  M.  Poe,  whom  I  knew  very  well,  was  one  of  the  young 
est  members  of  the  club.  He  was  regarded  as  a  young  man 
of  great  promise,  which  promise  has  been  fulfilled.  He  has 
become,  while  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  distinguished  engineers  connected  with  the  army. 

M.  C.  Meigs  stands  high  with  those  who  know  him,  but  his 
merits  have  not  been,  I  think,  appreciated  by  the  public  as 
they  ought  to  have  been.  I  must  therefore  speak  of  his  ser 
vices  during  the  war  at  considerable  length.  I  had  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  him  while  I  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  he  commanded  my  respect  by  his  ability  and  his  fidelity 
to  the  Government.  In  war,  as  has  been  said,  it  is  the  soldier 
upon  whom  honors  are  conferred  for  distinguished  services — 
the  battle-field  that  attracts  public  attention.  Little  is  thought 
about  the  services  of  those  by  whose  agency  the  organization 
of  armies  is  maintained ;  and  yet  the  success  of  military  move 
ments  on  a  large  scale,  in  modern  times,  depends  mainly  upon 
the  efficiency  of  what  is  called,  in  the  United  States,  the  Quar 
termaster's  Department.  In  ancient  times,  invading  armies 
subsisted  upon  the  countries  which  they  conquered  or  through 
which  they  marched.  Everything  that  was  needed  and  could 
be  reached  was  seized  by  them,  and  desolation  marked  their 
progress.  There  was  no  recognition  of  private  property. 
Everything  in  the  enemy's  country  was  enemy's  property 
and  legitimate  prey.  Wars  always  are,  and  always  will  be, 
barbarous,  but  progressive  civilization  has  lessened  their  bar 
barism.  Armies  are  no  longer  dependent  upon  the  countries 
which  they  occupy  for  subsistence.  Xations  that  wage  aggres 
sive  wars  must  make  provision  for  the  support  of  their  armies 
independently  of  plunder.  The  instances  in  modern  wars  of 


MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF    A    CENTURY. 

the  support  of  armies  by  levies  or  violence  are  exceptional. 
A\7hile  from  countries  occupied  by  invading  forces,  contribu 
tions  may  be  exacted,  and  supplies  to  some  extent  obtained, 
their  main  dependence  must  be  upon  their  own  commissariat. 
Deficiency  in  this  would  imperil  the  best  campaign  plans  and 
the  most  perfect  army  organization.  In  the  Franco-German 
war,  the  French  armies,  although  fighting  upon  their  own  soil, 
labored  under  great  disadvantages  by  having  a  commissariat 
poorly  supplied  and  badly  managed ;  while  the  Germans,  in  a 
foreign  land,  were  bountifully  provided  by  their  own  commis 
sariat  with  everything  needed  for  their  health  and  comfort. 

The  civil  war  in  the  United  States  could  not  have  been 
prosecuted  by  the  Government  with  the  smallest  hope  of  suc 
cess,  had  not  the  Union  armies  been  properly  provided  and 
cared  for  by  the  Quartermaster's  Department.  Fortunately 
for  the  country,  there  was  at  the  head  of  this  department 
M.  C.  Meigs,  who  merits  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  his 
countrymen  by  the  services  which  he  rendered  in  a  posi 
tion  requiring  qualities  of  a  very  high  order — vigilance, 
industry,  and  integrity,  with  the  ability  to  comprehend  large 
transactions,  and  master  the  smallest  details.  All  of  these 
qualities  General  Meigs  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree,  and 
he  had  ample  opportunities  for  their  exercise  in  furnish  ing- 
supplies  for  nearly  four  years  to  armies  larger  in  the  aggregate 
than  had  been  employed  by  any  other  nation,  and  scattered 
over  a  country  of  greater  extent  than  had  ever  been  occupied 
by  contending  forces.  In  1872  I  met  in  London  an  intelligent 
and  inquisitive  American,  who  had  been  spending  some  months 
in  the  city  for  the  sole  purpose  of  ascertaining  how  four  mill 
ions  of  people,  who  produced  nothing  in  the  food  line,  could 
day  by  day  be  furnished  with  the  necessary  supplies.  He  had 
investigated  with  diligence  and  skill,  and  he  had  prepared 
tables  which  exhibited  the  varieties  and  quantities  of  food 
brought  into  the  city  for  daily  consumption,  and  statements 
of  the  sources  from  which  they  w^ere  obtained.  "  Here,"  said 


DIFFICULTIES   OF   THE   COMMISSARIAT.  '271 

he  to  me,  "  are  four  millions  of  people  within  the  boundaries 
of  a  single  city,  whose  existence  mainly  depends  upon  what  is 
brought  to  them  each  day,  and  very  largely  from  other  coun 
tries,  and  so  closely  do  demand  and  supply  correspond,  that 
there  is  no  excess  and  no  deficiency/'  He  thought  this  very 
wonderful,  and  he  seemed  to  be  rather  disgusted  when  I  said 
to  him  that,  wonderful  as  it  was,  the  manner  in  which  the 
Federal  armies  in  our  civil  war  were  provided  for,  through 
the  agency  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department,  was  still  more 
wonderful.  In  this  statement  I  was  right,  and  for  obvious 
reasons.  The  growth  of  cities  being  gradual,  there  are  no 
emergencies  to  create  extraordinary  demand  for  supplies. 
Step  bv  step,  from  villages  to  towns,  and  from  towns  to  cities, 
from  small  cities  to  large  ones,  they  have  grown  ;  and  cor 
responding  with  their  growth  has  been  the  increase  in  the 
sources  of  supply.  London  is  as  readily  supplied  with  what  is 
needful  for  the  subsistence  of  four  millions  of  people  as  it  was 
when  its  proportions  did  not  exceed  one  hundred  thousand  ; — 
the  means  of  supply  have  kept  even  pace  with  its  growth,  and 
are  al \vays  equal  to  the  demand.  Very  different  is  the  case 
with  regard  to  the  supply  of  armies,  and  especially  of  suddenly 
created  armies,  engaged  in  aggressive  war,  and  occupying 
large  extents  of  country.  Xever  were  such  onerous  duties 
performed  by  a  single  department,  in  any  country,  as  were 
performed  by  the  Quartermaster's  Department  in  our  civil 
war.  In  the  spring  of  1861  the  regular  army  of  the  United 
States  was  12,000  strong,  stationed  along  the  frontier  to  keep 
peace  among  the  Indians,  and  protect  the  settlers  in  their  new 
homes.  They  were  in  a  region  in  which  game  was  plenti 
ful  and  all  needful  supplies,  except  clothing,  were  at  hand. 
There  was  scarcely  work  enough  to  be  done  in  the  Quarter 
master's  Department  to  justify  its  existence.  Suddenly,  at  the 
call  of  the  President,  seventy-five  thousand  men  were  mustered 
into  the  military  service.  The  firing  upon  Sumter  was  the 
tocsin  of  the  greatest  war  which  the  world  has  ever  witnessed. 


272     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Scarcely  had  this  call  been  answered,  when  other  calls  rapidly 
followed,  until  before  the  war  was  ended  more  than  a  million  of 
men  were  employed  by  the  Government,  and  subsisted  through 
the  Quartermaster's  Department. 

At  the  head  of  this  Department,  when  the  war  commenced, 
was  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  resigned  in  the  spring 
of  1861  to  enter  into  the  Confederate  service,  and  whose 
example  was  followed  by  some  of  his  subordinates.  The 
Department  was  thus  deprived  of  experienced  men,  and  when 
General  (then  Colonel)  Meigs  was  appointed  Quartermaster- 
General,  on  the  15th  of  May,  1861,  he  found  merely  the 
skeleton  of  a  bureau,  to  be  reorganized  and  made  equal  to  the 
existing  and  rapidly  increasing  demands  upon  it.  If  the  mag 
nitude  and  duration  of  the  war  could  have  been  foreseen 
months  before  its  commencement,  the  organization  of  a  depart 
ment  with  force  and  skill  enough  to  do  what  was  to  be  required 
of  it  would  have  been  a  matter  of  no  small  difficulty  ;  its  organ 
ization  after  the  war  had  been  commenced,  and  while  heavy 
calls  were  to  be  answered,  was  a  task  that  could  only  have 
been  performed  by  a  man  of  superior  executive  ability,  assisted 
by  subordinates  whose  lack  of  experience  was  their  only  defi 
ciency.  Men  learn  rapidly  under  the  stimulus  of  patriotism, 
and  the  pressure  of  necessary  action  ;  and  this  Department, 
upon  the  efficiency  of  which  great  results  depended,  was 
reorganized  and  enlarged  in  the  midst  of  the  Avar  without 
confusion,  and  placed  upon  a  basis  that  rendered  it  equal  to 
the  enormous  work  it  was  called  upon  to  perform.  It  was 
the  duty  of  this  department  to  purchase  all  the  horses, 
mules,  and  oxen  needed  for  the  armies,  the  camp  and  garri 
son  equipage,  the  clothing  and  accoutrements  of  the  soldiers, 
the  timber  for  barracks  and  hospitals ;  to  purchase  or  rent 
grounds  for  camps,  to  construct  or  charter  steamers  and  other 
vessels  to  be  used  upon  the  ocean  or  rivers ;  to  build  or 
repair  railroads  which  were  needed  for  the  transportation  of 
troops  or  supplies;  to  furnish  everything  that  was  required 


GENERAL   MEIGS'S   ACCOMPLISHMENT.  273 

for  the   organization   of   armies   and   for   their   support   and 
comfort. 

While  it  devolved  upon  the  Commissary  Department  to 
procure  the  food  for  the  soldiers,  and  for  the  Ordnance 
Department  to  manufacture  or  buy  arms,  it  was  the  duty  of 
the  Quartermaster's  Department  to  transport  them,  and  all 
war  material,  to  the  armies,  no  matter  how  far  they  might  be 
from  the  points  at  which  they  were  obtained.  Branches  of  the 
Quartermaster's  Department  were  with  the  different  armies 
wherever  they  might  be.  They  furnished  General  Grant  with 
supplies  in  the  battles  of  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary 
Ridge.  They  followed  him  in  the  terrific  battles  of  the 
Wilderness,  and  were  with  him  at  City  Point,  and  at  the 
surrender  of  General  Lee  at  Appomattox.  They  were  with 
Rosecrans  at  Stone  River  and  at  Corinth.  They  were  with 
Sherman  as  he  fought  his  way  through  Tennessee  to  Atlanta. 
If  they  did  not  follow  him  in  his  march  to  the  sea,  they  fur 
nished  him  with  a  liberal  outfit  at  the  start,  and  they  met 
him  again  at  Goldsborough,  after  the  skill  and  endurance  of 
his  army  had  been  proved  in  the  march  through  the  swamps 
and  the  morasses  of  the  Carolinas.  They  were  with  McClellan 
in  his  battles  in  the  Peninsula  and  at  Antietam  ;  with  Meade  at 
Gettysburg,  with  Sheridan  on  the  Shenandoah,  with  Thomas 
in  the  battle  of  Nashville.  Wherever  there  were  forces  to 
be  supplied  or  transported,  there  were  agents  of  the  Quarter 
master's  Department.  In  the  first  year  of  the  war  it  con 
structed  seven  iron-clad  gunboats,  and  nine  steam  rams,  and 
operated  them  upon  the  Mississippi  River  and  its  tributaries. 
After  the  capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  they  were 
turned  over  to  the  Navy  Department.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  war,  the  transportation  fleet  of  this  department  consisted 
of  over  a  thousand  vessels  of  all  kinds.  Within  fifteen  months 
from  the  commencement  of  active  hostilities,  the  department 
purchased  and  delivered  to  the  army  247,678  horses  and 
mules,  and  over  22,500  wagons  and  ambulances ;  and  as  the 
18 


274  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF   A    CENTURY. 

army  was  increased  in  numbers,  purchases  were  correspond 
ingly  increased.  The  outlays  in  1864  were  larger  than  in  any 
previous  year.  Between  the  1st  of  January,  1864,  and  the 
1st  of  May,  1865,  214,000  horses  were  purchased,  and  in  seven 
months  59,000  mules.  The  forage  supplied  during  the  war 
was : 

22,816,271  bushels  of  corn,  at  a  cost  of $29,879,300 

78,663,799  bushels  of  oats,  at  a  cost  of 76,362,026 

1,518,621  tons  of  hay,  at  a  cost  of 48,595,892 

21,276  tons  of  straw,  at  a  cost  of 425,520 

There  was  also  purchased  and  delivered  : 

551,456  cords  of  wood,  at  a  cost  of $2,756,180 

1,620,910  tons  of  coal,  at  a  cost  of 13,777,735 

When  the  war  was  ended,  the  Department  carried  to  their 
homes  nearly  a  million  of  men,  and  had  subject  to  its  dis 
posal,  104,474  horses  and  102,954  mules,  and  upwards  of 
420,000  tons  of  military  stores,  which  were  judiciously  dis 
posed  of.  It  expended  $45,367,000  upon  military  railways. 
Its  total  expenditures  were  upwards  of  $1,500,000,000,  every 
dollar  of  which  was  faithfully  accounted  for.  I  mention  these 
items  to  show  the  magnitude  of  the  work  performed  by  the 
Quartermaster's  Department.  Its  operations  are  of  record, 
and  will  be  of  immense  service  to  the  future  historian  of  the 
great  civil  war,  which  was  waged  with  vigor  and  characterized 
by  bravery  and  devotion  on  both  sides  which  have  never  been 
equalled. 

It  was  at  the  Club  that  I  became  acquainted  with  General 
George  II.  Thomas.  He  was  not  a  member,  but  he  accepted 
invitations  to  its  meetings,  in  which  he  seemed  to  be  much 
interested.  He  frequently  participated  in  the  discussions,  and 
always  spoke  with  intelligence  and  to  the  point.  I  saw  a 
good  deal  of  him,  in  the  Club  and  out  of  it,  and  the  better  I 
knew  him,  the  more  highly  I  esteemed  him.  My  acquaintance 
with  him  became  close,  and  he  spoke  to  me,  I  think,  with  as 
much  freedom,  as  he  spoke  to  any  one,  about  his  military  ser- 


GE^EKAL   GEORGE   H.    THOMAS.  275 

vices,  and  the  criticisms  to  which  he  was  subjected  just  before 
the  battle  of  Nashville.  In  the  last  conversation  I  ever  had 
with  him,  he  referred  to  the  annoying  telegrams  which  he 
received  from  General  JIalleck  at  Washington,  and  from 
General  Grant  at  City  Point.  "  I  was  on  the  ground,"  he  said, 
"and  hard  at  work  in  getting  together  and  into  fighting  shape 
the  scattered  and  undisciplined  forces  under  my  command, 
after  General  Sherman  had  commenced  his  march  to  the  sea, 
in  order  that  I  might  strike  an  effective  blow  against  the 
superior  forces  of  General  Hood.  I  knew,  or  thought  I  knew, 
when  the  blow  should  be  struck,  and  it  was  struck  just  as  soon 
as  it  could  be  with  reasonable  prospects  of  success.  Defeat 
at  that  time,  and  at  that  place,  would  have  been  a  greater 
calamity  than  any  which  could  have  befallen  the  Federal 
forces.  It  would  have  cleared  the  way  for  the  triumphant 
march  of  Hood's  army  through  Kentucky,  and  a  successful 
invasion  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  in  which  there  were  no  Federal 
troops.  It  was,  therefore,  of  the  last  importance  that  the 
battle  upon  which  so  much  depended  should  not  be  fought 
until  I  was  ready  for  it.  To  one  of  General  Grant's  dis 
patches,  urging  me  to  fight,  I  was  strongly  tempted  (grosslv 
improper  as  it  would  have  been)  to  ask  why  he  was  not  fight 
ing  himself.'' 

Fortunate  was  it  for  the  country  that  General  Thomas 
was  not  relieved  by  General  Logan,  who  it  was  understood, 
was  on  his  way  to  take  the  command,  while  the  great  and 
decisive  battle  was  being  fought.  General  Logan  was  a  brave 
man,  and  for  his  opportunities  he  was  a  skilful  officer ;  but 
neither  he,  nor  any  other  general,  could  have  taken  Thomas's 
place  without  imminent  danger  to  the  Union  army.  No  other 
general,  except  perhaps  McClellan,  commanded  the  confi 
dence  of  his  soldiers  to  the  same  extent  as  did  General  Thomas. 
Had  he  been  deprived  of  his  command  at  that  critical  time,  so 
great  would  have  been  the  disaffection  of  the  troops,  that  in 
all  probability  Hood  would  have  achieved  a  victory,  instead 


276     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

of  meeting  a  crushing  defeat.  The  battle  of  Nashville  was 
one  of  the  most  important  battles  of  the  war,  in  itself  and  in 
the  eifect  which  it  produced  in  the  disloyal  as  well  as  the 
loyal  States.  It  was  the  only  great  battle  in  which  the  Con 
federates  were  thoroughly  vanquished.  For  this  signal  victor}'-, 
General  Thomas  was  properly  honored,  but  the  opinion  then 
prevailed  and  still  prevails,  that  he  was,  as  General  Grant 
expressed  it,  the  right  man  to  repel,  but  not  to  initiate — that 
he  was  slow.  For  this  opinion  there  is  no  other  foundation 
than  that  he  did  not  give  battle  to  Hood  before  he  did.  In 
his  long  and  honorable  military  career,  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  he  was  not  as  prompt  in  acting  as  he  was  sound  in 
judging.  In  no  single  instance  was  he  liable  to  the  charge  of 
excessive  prudence.  His  military  career  began  in  the  war 
with  the  Seminole  Indians  in  Florida ;  for  his  services  in  which, 
as  second  lieutenant,  he  was  complimented  by  his  superior 
officers.  For  his  good  conduct  at  Monterey,  in  the  Mexican 
war,  he  was  breveted  captain  ;  for  his  distinguished  gallantry 
at  Buena  Yista,  major. 

General  Thomas  was  a  Virginian,  and  strongly  attached 
to  his  native  State  ;  but  he  never  faltered  in  his  allegiance 
to  the  Government.  By  his  fidelity  to  the  Union,  he  was 
estranged  from  his  relatives  and  Virginia  friends,  who  never 
forgave  him  for  what  they  called  his  treason  to  his  State. 
Under  the  first  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  volunteers,  upon 
the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  he  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  a  brigade  under  General  Patterson,  and  when 
Patterson  was  mustered  out  at  the  expiration  of  his  ninety 
days'  service,  he  was  appointed  Brigadier- General  of  Volun 
teers,  and  ordered  to  Louisville.  In  the  organization  of  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  under  General  Buell,  he  was  assigned 
to  the  command  of  the  First  Division.  His  duties  in  this 
command  were  laborious  and  trying,  as  he  had  an  active 
enemy  to  watch,  while  he  was  preparing  his  undisciplined 
troops  for  efficient  service.  On  the  18th  of  January,  1862,  he 


THE    ROCK    OF    CHICKAMAUGA.  277 

had  a  sharp  engagement  at  Mill  Springs,  with  the  Con 
federates  under  General  George  B.  Crittenden  and  General 
Zollicoffer,  whom  he  routed  with  considerable  loss  to  the  Con 
federates  in  men.  and  great  loss  in  munitions  of  all  kinds.  In 
this  battle  General  Zollicoffer  was  killed,  and  although,  in  com 
parison  with  those  which  followed,  it  was  a  small  affair,  it 
was  important  in  raising  the  spirit  of  the  Federal  troops,  in 
giving  them  confidence  in  their  commander  and  in  themselves, 
and  in  encouraging  the  people  of  the  Xorth.  It  was  a  well- 
contested  battle  on  both  sides.  It  was  one  of  the  first  battles 
in  the  "West — the  first  in  which  the  Union  troops  won  a  vic 
tory.  It  was  also  important  in  the  effect  it  had  upon  the 
people  of  Kentucky.  It  raised  the  reputation  of  the  Northern 
soldiers,  and  did  much  to  check  the  progress  of  secession  senti 
ment  in  that  State.  In  the  West,  the  effect  of  this  battle  was 
electrical.  It  was  the  baptism  of  fire  to  a  number  of  Western 
regiments ;  and  the  report  of  the  victory  was  received  with  a 
delight  scarcely  equalled  by  the  reports  of  subsequent  victories 
on  a  larger  scale. 

The  bravery  and  admirable  judgment  of  General  Thomas 
were  soon  again  displayed  in  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  under 
General  Rosecrans,  one  of  the  hardest-fought  and  bloodiest 
of  the  early  battles  of  the  war ;  but  it  was  at  Chicamauga  that 
he  won  his  greatest  popular  renown.  It  was  there  that  his 
indomitable  courage  was  most  effectively  displayed.  Undis 
mayed  by  the  reports  which  reached  him  of  the  disasters  of 
the  rest  of  the  Union  forces,  he  held  his  own  well  in  hand, 
and,  gathering  them  together  on  Horseshoe  Ridge,  a  position 
selected  by  himself,  he  resisted  with  twenty-five  thousand  men 
the  repeated  attacks  of  twice  that  number  of  Confederate 
troops,  frequently  reinforced,  and  flushed  with  their  successes 
in  other  parts  of  the  field.  Never  was  there  a  grander  display 
of  tenacious  heroism  than  was  displayed  by  General  Thomas, 
when  for  six  hours,  delivering  harder  blows  than  he  received, 
he  held  his  position  against  the  furious  assaults  of  almost  over- 


278  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

whelming  numbers.  It  was  then  that  he  won  the  name  so 
expressive  of  his  merit — "The  Rock  of  Chickamauga."  To 
him  was  the  country  indebted  for  the  salvation  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland. 

The  gallantry  and  military  capacity  of  General  Thomas 
were  displayed  in  every  one  of  the  many  battles  in  which  he 
was  engaged ;  and  never  was  he  charged  writh  being  slow  until 
he  hesitated  to  strike  at  Hood  before  he  was  prepared  to  make 
the  battle  of  Nashville  one  of  the  most  decisive  battles  of  the 
Avar ;  but  the  complaint  came  from  City  Point,  and  hence  the 
credence  of  its  justice.  In  the  history  of  the  great  civil  war 
yet  to  be  written  by  an  impartial  pen,  no  name  will  be  more 
conspicuous,  not  for  courage  only,  but  for  all  the  qualities 
required  in  a  great  commander,  than  that  of  George  H. 
Thomas.  Nor  was  it  as  a  soldier  only  that  he  was  renowned. 
He  was  no  less  distinguished  by  his  modesty,  his  unselfishness, 
and  his  keen  sense  of  justice.  He  was  never  his  own  trum 
peter,  nor  with  his  approbation  was  any  one  the  trumpeter  of 
his  fame.  Newspaper  correspondents  were  never  welcome  in 
his  camps.  His  supreme  ambition  was  to  do  his  duty,  and 
he  was  content  that  his  reputation  should  rest  upon  his  acts. 
He  declined  honors  when  by  accepting  them  he  would  have 
sanctioned  injustice  to  others.  The  following  illustrates  his 
magnanimity  in  this  regard.  After  the  battle  of  Mill  Springs  he 
was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Ohio  in  place 
of  General  Buell.  He  declined  the  promotion,  on  the  ground 
that,  in  his  judgment,  Buell  merited  the  approbation  rather 
than  the  censure  of  the  Government.  Having  heard  that  his 
name  had  been  sent  to  the  Senate  by  President  Johnson  for  a 
position  that  wrould,  if  the  nomination  were  confirmed  by  the 
Senate,  make  him  superior  to  General  Grant,  he  promptly 
requested  some  of  his  personal  friends  in  the  Senate  to  vote 
against  his  confirmation.  He  had,  he  said,  received  all  the 
honor  he  was  justly  entitled  to.  In  the  same  spirit  he  refused 
presents — such  presents  as  the  commander-in-chief  wras  in  the 


GENERAL   JOHN   A.  LOGAN.  279 

habit  of  receiving.  Nor  did  lie  complain  of  the  intended  injus 
tice  to  him  just  before  the  battle  of  Nashville.  lie  felt,  how 
ever — and  this  feeling  he  expressed  to  intimate  friends — that 
neither  Secretary  Stanton  nor  General  Grant  was  his  friend. 
Many  regarded  his  transfer  to  the  command  of  the  Military 
Division  of  the  Pacific  an  indication  of  unfriendly  feeling  or 
jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  President. 

I  have  said  much  more  than  I  intended  to  say  about  Gen 
eral  Thomas.  I  should  have  said  less  if  I  had  felt  that  his 
high  character  and  great  success  had  been  fully  appreciated. 
But  having  said  so  much  about  him,  I  cannot  help  giving  the 
impressions  made  upon  me  by  a  few  of  the  other  distinguished 
generals  and  commanders  with  whom  I  became  personally 
acquainted  during  the  war,  or  soon  after  its  close.  My 
acquaintances  in  this  direction  were  limited.  While  the  war 
was  in  progress,  and  for  nearly  four  years  after  its  termina 
tion,  my  time  was  required  to  such  an  extent  in  the  general 
management  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  and  in  the 
performance  of  financial  duties  in  Washington,  that  I  had 
little  opportunity  for  becoming  personally  acquainted  with 
many  of  the  men  by  whose  gallantry  in  the  field  and  on  the 
water  the  national  unity  was  preserved. 

Although  he  was  a  Western  man,  it  was  after  the  war  that 
I  met  General  John  A.  Logan,  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
volunteer  generals  who  added  to  the  prestige  fairly  acquired  in 
the  field,  the  honor  of  serving  with  distinction  the  great  State 
of  Illinois  in  the  United  States  Senate.  Before  the  war  he 
had  obtained  considerable  celebrity  as  a  young,  popular  orator. 
He  was  a  Democrat,  and  living  in  southern  Illinois,  his  personal 
.and  political  affiliations  were  largely  with  Southern  men.  He 
was  a  non-coercionist,  but  he  was  nevertheless  for  the  Union, 
and  heartily  opposed  to  all  combination,  all  measures  which 
seemed  to  him  to  endanger  it.  Although  he  had  no  sympathy 
with  the  anti-slavery  men  in  the  free  States,  he  had  none  with 
secessionists  at  the  South.  When,  therefore,  the  Southern 


280  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

States  attempted  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  and  to  establish 
an  independent  government  by  force,  he  had  no  doubt  as  to 
what  duty  required  of  him.  lie  was  for  the  Union,  and  his 
fidelity  was  not  in  the  slightest  measure  weakened  by  the  fact 
that  among  those  who  were  most  active  in  efforts  to  destroy  it 
were  many  to  whom  he  had  been  strongly  attached.  So  ambi 
tious  was  he,  and  so  apt  in  learning  the  art  of  war,  that  he 
commanded  the  respect  of  the  officers  of  the  regular  army,  and 
so  untiring  in  his  devotion  to  the  Government  that  he  richly  mer 
ited  the  high  distinction  which  he  acquired.  General  Logan 
belonged  to  that  class  of  men  whose  rise  from  obscurity  to 
eminence  is  not  only  creditable  to  themselves,  but  a  compliment 
to  our  democratic  institutions.  If  after  the  war  he  was  unable 
to  overcome  the  feeling  engendered  by  it — to  be  just  to  those 
who  were  forced  into  the  war  against  the  Government  by  their 
adherence  to  the  doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty,  in  which  he 
had  himself  been  a  believer ;  if  he  could  not  help  regarding 
the  attempted  secession  of  the  Southern  States  as  treasonable, 
and  treasonable  only,  it  was  because  there  are  no  animosities 
so  lasting  and  bitter  as  those  which  follow  ruptured  friendship. 
The  advocates  of  the  harshest  treatment  of  the  people  of  the 
Southern  States  after  the  war  were  those  who,  like  Secretary 
Stanton,  General  B.  F.  Butler,  and  General  Logan,  were  in  the 
closest  sympathy  with  them  before  its  commencement.  Gen 
eral  Logan  was  among  the  very  few  of  the  distinguished 
Union  soldiers  who  were,  or  are,  disposed  to  keep  alive  sec 
tional  animosity  rather  than  to  use  their  influence  to  restore 
amicable  relations  between  the  North  and  South,  which  but  for 
slavery  would  never  have  been  interrupted. 

The  evening  of  the  day  on  which  reports  of  General  P.  IL 
Sheridan's  splendid  victory  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia  at  Cedar 
Creek  were  received  in  Washington,  I  spent  with  the  President 
at  the  Soldiers'  Home.  It  was  such  a  relief  to  have  cheering 
news  from  that  quarter,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  threw  off  his  cares  and 
gave  free  rein  to  his  humor.  lie  had  not  been  so  happ}7,  he 


GENERAL    PHILIP   II.    SHERIDAN.  281 

said,  since  the  capture  of  Vicksburg.  I  certainly  never  saw 
him  during  the  war  when  he  was  so  joyous.  My  desire  to 
meet  Sheridan  was  not  gratified  until  I  met  him,  some  years 
after,  in  London,  where  we  spent  some  pleasant  hours  together. 
Since  then  I  have  known  him  quite  well,  and  he  has  grown 
steadily  in  my  estimation  and  respect.  To  many  of  his  coun 
trymen,  General  Sheridan  has  been  known  only  as  one  of  the 
bravest  of  the  brave — the  dashing  cavalry  commander,  whose 
gallantry  had  been  displayed  on  many  battle-fields,  always 
foremost  in  the  fight  and  seemingly  courting  danger  for  the 
love  of  it.  Such  he  had  seemed  to  me  until  he  was  assigned 
to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  in  August, 
1864.  It  was  there  that  he  found  opportunity  to  display 
his  qualities  as  a  commander.  It  was  the  first  command 
of  an  army  that  he  had  been  intrusted  with,  and  he  had 
opposed  to  him  one  of  the  most  skilful  generals  of  the  Con 
federacy.  That  the  right  man  had  at  last  been  assigned  to  the 
command  of  the  Union  forces  in  that  fertile  valley,  from 
which  General  Lee  was  obtaining  a  large  part  of  his  supplies  in 
the  defence  of  Richmond — was  speedily  proven  by  his  great  but 
dearly-bought  victory  at  Opequan  Creek.  It  was  the  first  bat 
tle  in  which  he  had  led  an  army,  and  in  his  elation  he  indited 
his  dispatch,  "  We  have  sent  the  enemy  whirling  through 
Winchester.  We  are  after  them  to-morrow."  The  battle  at 
Fisher's  Hill,  which  soon  followed,  in  which  the  Confederate 
fortifications,  well  built,  and  on  a  commanding  position,  were 
skilfully  flanked  and  carried  by  storm,  was  scarcely  less 
important  than  that  at  Opequan  in  the  effect  which  it  had  upon 
both  sections  of  the  country.  It  was,  however,  in  the  battle 
of  Cedar  Creek  that  General  Sheridan  obtained  his  greatest 
renown.  In  this  battle  the  Confederates  commenced  the  attack, 
and  followed  it  up  with  so  much  vigor  that  the  Union  forces 
were  driven  from  their  encampments,  and  twenty-four  of  their 
guns  were  captured.  A  great  victory  seemed  to  be  within  the 
grasp  of  General  Early,  up  to  eleven  o'clock,  when  the  tide  was 


*rv  6  R  A  rt 

OF  TH7. 

lV^r. 


282  MEX    AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

suddenly  turned.  General  Sheridan  was  on  his  return  from 
Washington,  and  had  reached  Winchester  on  the  morning  of 
the  10th  of  October,  when  an  officer  reported  to  him  sounds 
of  artillery.  This  report  made  so  little  impression  upon  him 
that  he  did  not  leave  the  town  for  a  couple  of  hours,  but  he 
had  not  proceeded  far,  before  it  became  evident  that  a  great 
battle  was  being  fought,  and  to  the  disadvantage  of  his  army. 
As  soon  as  his  horse  could  carry  him,  he  was  among  his 
retreating  troops.  To  stop  this  retreat,  to  re-form  the  broken 
lines,  to  compel  the  fugitives  to  face  the  enemy  and  to  win  a 
great  victory,  was  possible  only  to  a  general  of  great  ability, 
who  could  inspire  his  troops  with  his  own  gallant  spirit.  When 
Sheridan  reached  the  field,  at  about  eleven  o'clock,  the  largest 
part  of  the  Union  Army  was  in  retreat,  some  of  it  in  utter  con 
fusion.  In  a  few  hours  the  lost  ground  was  recovered,  and 
before  night  the  Confederates,  beaten  at  all  points,  were  flying 
for  their  lives.  The  annals  of  war  reveal  nothing  grander  than 
the  conduct  of  Sheridan  in  this,  the  last  great  battle  in  the 
Shenandoah.  Like  General  Thomas,  he  was  the  idol  of  the 
men  whom  he  commanded.  Since  the  war  he  has  displayed 
executive  ability  and  sound  judgment  in  the  performance  of 
various  important  duties,  and  there  are  none  to  deny  that  he 
fills  with  great  credit  the  highest  place  in  the  army. 

Xo  other  general  in  the  army  of  the  civil  war  is  known  by 
as  many  people  as  William  Tecumseh  Sherman,  and  none  has 
warmer  friends.  Of  great  versatility  of  character,  he  has 
been  soldier,  teacher,  banker,  and  again  soldier.  He  has  trav 
elled  much,  and  been  a  close  and  accurate  observer.  His  per 
ception  is  rapid,  and  his  comprehension  of  the  topography  of 
a  country  through  which  he  merely  travels  is  so  extraordinary, 
that  he  understands  its  general  features  better  than  they  are 
understood  by  its  residents.  This  faculty  gave  him  great  advan 
tages  in  his  Tennessee  and  Georgia  campaign,  and  in  his 
march  from  Savannah  to  Ealeigh.  He  had  been  over  a  consid 
erable  part  of  these  sections  once  before,  not  as  a  student  of  its 


UNFORESEEN    MAGNITUDE   OF   THE   WAR.  283 

topography,  but  as  a  young  lieutenant  in  the  Seminole  war, 
and  yet  he  knew  more  about  them  than  the  Southern  generals 
seemed  to  know.  Sherman  is  a  man  of  the  world.  He  has 
the  faculty  of  adaptation,  which  makes  him  everywhere  at 
home — upon  the  frontier,  and  at  the  Capital ;  among  the 
rudest,  and  the  most  polished ;  in  cabins,  where  corn  dodgers 
and  pork  or  opossum  are  the  only  fare,  and  in  the  mansions  of 
the  rich,  where  there  is  everything  to  tempt  and  gratify  the 
appetite  ;  in  high  life  or  lo*w  life,  he  is  equally  at  ease.  Grim 
and  stern  in  his  appearance,  he  is  one  of  the  most  genial  of 
men.  He  is  a  good  talker,  and  especially  interesting  in  con 
versation,  because  without  being  egotistical,  he  can  be  led  to 
speak,  not  about  what  he  has  heard  or  read,  but  about  what 
he  has  himself  experienced  and  observed  in  a  varied  life. 
He  is  also  a  ready  public  speaker  and  facile  writer,  but  he  fre 
quently  speaks  without  preparation,  and  rarely  reviews  with 
care  what  he  writes,  so  that  he  sometimes  either  says  what  he 
did  not  intend  to  say,  or  his  language  is  so  misconstrued  as  to 
expose  him  to  criticism ;  but  he  never  makes  a  speech  that 
does  not  command  attention,  or  writes  an  article  which  is  with 
out  value.  He  was  well  received  in  Europe,  a  good  deal  of 
which  he  saw  during  his  visit  in  1871.  Especially  was  he  well 
received  in  London,  where  he  was  regarded  as  standing  at  the 
head  of  the  national  generals  in  the  civil  war,  the  progress 
of  which  had  been  watched  with  the  keenest  interest  by  the 
British  people. 

So  little  comprehension  was  there  throughout  the  North 
ern  States,  in  the  autumn  of  1861,  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
struggle  in  which  the  Government  was  engaged  for  the  main 
tenance  of  its  authority  in  the  South,  that  Sherman's  report 
that  seventy-five  thousand  men  would  be  required  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  in  the  Department  of  the  Cumber 
land,  to  the  command  of  which  he  had  been  appointed,  was 
received  with  surprise,  if  not  with  derision,  by  the  War  De 
partment,  and  with  astonishment  everywhere  at  the  North. 


284     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Seventy- five  thousand  men  for  a  single  Department !  could 
anything  be  more  preposterous !  If  seventy-five  thousand 
men  were  needed  for  a  single  Department,  and  that  not 
one  of  the  most  important,  how  many  would  be  required  for 
all  the  Departments  ?  And  if  the  men  could  be  found  for  such 
armies  as  would  be  required,  according  to  Sherman's  estimate, 
how  could  the  money  be  raised  to  cover  the  expense  ?  Ko 
sane  man  could  entertain  so  wild  an  opinion !  Sherman 
must  be  crazy,  was  the  talk  in  Washington.  Sherman  is  crazy, 
responded  the  newspapers  ;  one  of  the  most  enterprising  of 
which  made  the  startling  discovery  that  insanity  was  hered 
itary  in  the  Sherman  family.  Whether  the  prevalence  of  this 
sentiment  was  the  cause  of  his  being  relieved  of  his  command, 
and  placed  in  charge  of  a  camp  of  instruction,  does  not  appear ; 
but  that  it  was  the  fear  at  the  War  Office  that  he  was  not 
perfectly  sane  which  kept  him  in  the  background  for  months, 
is  more  than  probable.  Well  was  it  for  the  country  that  the 
magnitude  of  the  war  was  not  foreseen  at  the  beginning.  If 
it  had  been,  the  Union  might  have  been  severed  without  a  blow 
being  struck  for  its  preservation.  A  war  of  four  years'  dura 
tion,  requiring  the  services  of  more  than  a  million  of  men — the 
expenditure  of  four  thousand  millions  of  dollars — annual  taxes 
of  four  hundred  millions,  and  the  sacrifice  of  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  precious  lives  ; — who  would  not  have  stood  aghast  at 
such  a  picture  ?  Sherman  himself  had  no  forecast  of  a  war  of 
so  gigantic  proportions.  But  he  had  lived  at  the  South  ;  he 
understood  the  character  of  the  people  ;  he  knew  that  they  had 
not  been,  as  many  supposed,  enervated  by  the  existence  among 
them  of  a  servile  class,  upon  whom  they  mainly  depended  for 
labor  ;  he  comprehended  the  topography  of  the  country  to  be 
invaded,  and  the  advantages  which  it  possessed  in  defensive 
warfare.  He  Avas  consequently  quite  sure  that  the  conflict 
would  be  severe  and  protracted,  and  that  it  might  require  all 
the  energy  and  resources  at  the  command  of  the  Government 
to  bring  it  to  a  successful  termination. 


GENERAL    AV.    T.    SHERMAX.  285 

Sherman  was  the  sane  man,  the  insane  were  his  critics ;  and 
this  the  "War  Office  and  the  people  were  not  long  in  discover 
ing.  A  few  months  after  he  took  charge  of  the  school  of 
instruction,  his  presence  in  the  army  was  considered  necessary, 
and  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  District  of  Paducah  in 
Kentucky.  From  that  time  to  the  end  of  the  war  he  was,  next 
to  General  Grant,  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  national  gen 
erals  ;  more  constantly  employed,  and  more  frequently  in  battle 
than  any  other.  Before  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of 
the  Department  of  the  Cumberland,  he  had  been  made  for  his 
gallantry  at  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Eun,  a  Brigadier-General, 
and  after  the  battle  of  Shiloh  he  was  made  a  Major-General 
of  volunteers.  On  the  4th  of  July,  1863,  he  was  promoted  to 
be  Brigadier-General,  and  in  August,  1864,  Major-General  in 
the  regular  army.  All  of  these  advances  in  rank,  step  by  step, 
were  recognitions  of  his  merit,  and  his  merit  only.  In  nearly 
all  the  great  battles  in  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  he  bore  an 
important  part,  but  opportunity  for  the  full  exercise  of  great 
ability  was  not  afforded  until  he  was  placed  in  full  command 
of  the  section  which  included  the  Departments  of  the  Ohio, 
the  Cumberland,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas.  Then  at  the  head 
of  the  finest  national  army  that  had  been  under  one  command 
in  the  West,  he  was  confronted  at  every  point  by  a  Confed 
erate  force  second  only  in  strength  and  discipline  to  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia,  and  under  the  command  of  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who,  next  to  Lee,  was  the  ablest  of  the 
Confederate  Generals.  From  May  to  September  there  was 
incessant  manoeuvring  and  fighting  between  the  two  armies, 
and  great  valor  and  generalship  were  displayed  on  both  sides. 
Sherman's  aim  was  to  flank  Johnston,  and  avoid  direct  attack 
upon  his  fortifications.  Johnston's  effort  was  so  to  extend 
and  fortify  his  lines  that  he  could  not  be  flanked  nor 
attacked  in  front  without  great  risk  to  the  assailants.  The 
local  advantages  were  on  the  side  of  Johnston.  He  was  on 
the  defensive,  with  ample  supplies  at  hand.  Sherman  was 


286  MEN   AND   MEASUKES   OF   HALF  A    CENTURY. 

encountering  almost  insuperable  difficulties  in  keeping  open  his 
lines  of  communication  through  a  hostile  country  to  his  far- 
distant  base,  and  yet  the  Confederates  were  forced  from  one 
position  to  another,  with  no  small  losses  of  men  and  munitions. 
In  one  instance  only  were  they  able  to  make  good  their 
stand.  In  this  instance  (the  battle  of  Kenesaw)  Sherman 
changed  his  tactics.  He  made  a  direct  attack  upon  the  lines 
of  the  enemy,  and  was  repulsed  with  considerable  loss.  This 
repulse,  however,  did  not  seriously  check  his  onward  move 
ment.  In  a  few  days,  by  skilful  manoeuvres,  he  forced  the 
enemy  to  abandon  his  strong  position'  and  to  fall  back  upon 
another.  The  battle  at  Kenesaw  was  the  last  of  his  encounters 
with  Johnston  in  the  West.  Before  there  was  any  more  severe 
lighting,  Johnston  was  superseded  by  General  Hood.  The 
change  was  gratifying  to  Sherman  and  his  well-drilled  army. 
Johnston  was  brave^  skilful,  prudent,  wary.  If  driven  from 
one  position,  he  had  another  to  occupy  ;  so  that  he  was  always 
confronting  Sherman  with  fortifications  too  strong  to  be  car 
ried  by  assault,  and  too  extended  to  be  flanked  without  consid 
erable  loss  of  time,  nor  without  increasing  Sherman's  difficulties 
in  obtaining  supplies.  Hood,  on  the  other  hand,  was  aggres 
sive — more  disposed  to  strike  than  to  await  an  attack.  The 
government  at  Richmond  had  become  alarmed  at  the  steady 
progress  of  Sherman,  and  dissatisfied  with  the  Fabian  policy 
of  Johnston.  Hence  the  change  of  commanders.  That  the 
change  was  unfortunate  for  the  Confederates,  Avas  soon  appar 
ent.  Hood  was  a  daring  soldier,  who  had  obtained  renown 
on  many  well-contested  battle-fields ;  but  if  he  had  been  as 
wise  as  he  was  brave,  he  would  have  known  that  his  army  was 
not  strong  enough  for  aggressive  movements  against  such  an 
army  as  Sherman's.  In  the  battles  at  Atlanta  and  Gaines- 
borough,  he  exhibited  skilful  generalship,  and  his  usual  personal 
courage,  but  he  was  beaten  in  battle  and  foiled  in  his  efforts 
to  compel  Sherman  to  abandon  Georgia.  He  could  not  save 
Atlanta,  but  although  beaten,  he  was  not  vanquished  ;  and 


THE   MARCH   TO   THE   SEA.  28? 

when  Sherman  was  on  his  grand  march  to  the  sea,  he  was 
making  a  counter  movement  with  an  increased  force  towards 

O 

the  north.  His  military  career  was  ended  by  the  crushing 
blow  which  he  received  at  Nashville. 

The  greatest  single  loss  sustained  by  the  Government  at 
the  battle  of  Atlanta  was  in  the  death  of  General  McPher- 
son,  a  gallant  soldier  and  an  accomplished  gentleman,  to 
whom,  as  much  as  to  any  one,  the  country  was  indebted  for 
the  salvation  of  the  national  army  in  the  first  day's  battle  at 
Shiloh.  The  campaign  which  Sherman  commenced  in  May, 
1864,  at  Dalton,  and  substantially  closed  in  September,  at 
Atlanta,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  successful  cam 
paigns  of  the  war.  He  was  in  a  country  admirably  adapted 
to  defensive  operations.  He  had  opposed  to  him  an  army 
nearly  equal  to  his  own  in  numerical  strength,  and  fully  equal 
in  spirit  and  endurance,  commanded  first  by  Johnston,  one 
of  the  most  skilful,  and  next  by  Hood,  one  of  the  most  daring 
of  the  Confederate  generals.  He  was  dependent  entirely 
upon  his  base  for  supplies,  with  a  long  line  of  communication 
to  be  maintained.  Every  inch  of  advance  had  to  be  fought 
for,  and  almost  every  day  was  marked  by  fighting  or  manoeu 
vring  ;  and  yet  the  movement  was  onward,  interrupted  only 
by  the  repulse  at  Kenesaw,  until  the  object  of  the  campaign 
was  accomplished  in  the  capture  of  Atlanta,  which,  next  to 
Richmond,  was  the  most  important  position  for  the  Confeder 
ates  to  hold. 

In  the  conduct  of  this  campaign,  Sherman  exhibited  mili 
tary  genius  of  the  highest  order,  supplemented  by  courage, 
hardihood,  endurance;  but  the  crowning  glory  was  yet  to  be 
attained.  He  was  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  his  base  of 
supply  ;  and  he  had  an  active  enemy  in  his  neighborhood,  not 
strong  enough  to  meet  him  in  battle,  but  sufficiently  strong  to 
make  his  position  uncomfortable.  What  should  he  do? 
Should  he  fortify  Atlanta,  destroy  Hood's  army,  and  hold  the 
country  he  had  conquered ;  or  should  he  endeavor  to  give  the 


288     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Confederacy  a  death-blow,  by  pushing  on  to  the  sea — captur 
ing  Savannah  and  Charleston,  marching  northward  and  insur 
ing  the  fall  of  Richmond,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Army 
of  Virginia  under  General  Lee  ?  The  world  knows  what  he 
determined  to  do,  and  how  thoroughly  he  did  what  he  under 
took.  His  march  to  the  sea  was  as  grand  in  design  as  it  was 
splendid  in  execution.  To  Sherman  alone  belongs  the  honor 
of  the  design;  to  him  and  to  his  army,  the  honor  of  the  achiev- 
ment.  It  was,  in  conception  and  accomplishment,  one  of  the 
grandest  enterprises  of  which  there  is  a  record.  When  it  was 
understood  in  the  North  that  Sherman,  with  an  army  of  sixty 
or  seventy  thousand  men,  had  abandoned  his  base  and  com 
menced  a  march  through  a  hostile  country,  upon  which  he 
must  largely  depend  for  supplies  until  by  capturing  cities 
upon  the  sea-board  he  could  open  communication  with  the 
national  fleet,  the  joy  over  the  fall  of  Atlanta  gave  way  to 
anxiety,  and  as  days  followed  days,  and  weeks  followed  weeks, 
without  any  certain  intelligence  of  his  movements,  the  anxiety 
became  intense.  The  relief  was  long  in  coming,  and  when  it 
did  come,  when  the  report  was  received  that  the  army  was  in 
excellent  condition,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Savannah,  there  was 
greater  joy  and  hopefulness  throughout  the  loyal  States  than  had 
been  witnessed  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  It  was  an  assur 
ance  that  the  days  of  the  Confederacy  were  nearly  numbered. 
The  march  through  Georgia  proved  to  be,  however, 
neither  difficult  nor  dangerous.  Forage  was  abundant,  and 
there  were  no  armed  forces  to  be  contended  with.  It  was  a 
pleasure  trip,  in  comparison  with  the  hardships  that  were 
soon  to  be  encountered.  Savannah  and  Charleston  were 
soon  in  possession  of  the  national  forces,  and  what  and 
where  next,  were  the  questions  to  be  answered  by  early  action. 
Sherman  was  decided  in  his  opinion  that  the  march  to  the 
sea  should  be  followed  by  a  march  to  Columbia — to  Raleigh— 
to  Richmond.  General  Grant  at  first  advised  that  a  strong- 
intrenched  position  should  be  established  at  a  suitable  point, 


THE  GREATEST  MODERN  MILITARY  FEAT.          289 

and  that  the  bulk  of  the  army  should  be  sent  by  sea  to 
join  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  This  advice,  upon  reflection, 
was  changed,  and  Sherman  was  left  to  complete  the  cam 
paign  in  his  own  way.  Up  to  this  time,  as  has  been  said, 
no  serious  difficulties  had  been  met.  Now  the  working  power, 
the  endurance,  and  the  courage  of  the  army  were  to  be 
severely  tested.  Rivers  were  to  be  bridged,  swamps  were  to 
be  waded,  roads  through  forests  were  to  be  constructed,  with 
an  active  enemy  hovering  about,  ready  to  strike  whenever  a 
blow  could  be  effectively  given.  It  was  the  rainy  season,  and 
the  rains  were  unusually  heavy.  The  banks  of  the  rivers  were 
overflowed  for  miles,  and  the  larger  part  of  the  route  from 
Charleston  to  Columbia  was  through  a  country  covered  with 
water.  Such  was  its  condition  that  the  Confederate  generals 
considered  it  impassable,  and  yet  this  grand  army  made  its 
way  through  it,  at  an  average  rate  of  ten  miles  a  day.  I 
thought  when  I  read  the  accounts  of  it  years  ago  that  Sherman's 
sixteen  days'  march  from  Charleston  to  Columbia  was  the 
grandest  feat  of  modern  times — that  the  crossing  of  the  Alps 
by  Napoleon  was  far  less  difficult.  This  opinion  has  been 
confirmed  by  what  I  have  heard  and  read  about  it  since.  I 
have  no  knowledge  of  battles,  but  I  do  know  something  of 
travel  over  a  flat  country  in  rainy  seasons.  "With  a  strong 
horse  under  me,  I  have  frequently  found  ten  miles  a  good 
day's  journey,  and  I  can  therefore  appreciate  the  enormous 
work  performed  by  Sherman's  army  in  this  part  of  its  cele 
brated  march.  I  take  the  liberty  of  copying  the  following 
from  General  Jacob  D.  Cox's  "  March  to  the  Sea  "  : 

"  An  itinerary  of  the  march  through  South  Carolina  would 
furnish  interesting  daily  illustrations  of  the  expedients  by 
which  an  army  of  expert  woodsmen  can  overcome  difficulties 
in  logistics  commonly  thought  insurmountable.  In  a  country 
where  many  of  the  rivers  are  known  by  the  name  of  swamps, 
continuous  rains  so  raised  the  waters  that  scarce  a  stream  was 
passed  without  deploying  the  advanced  guard  through  water 
waist  deep,  and  sometimes  it  reached  even  to  the  armpits, 
19 


290  MEN   AND    MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

forcing  them  to  carry  the  cartridge-box  at  the  neck  and  the 
musket  on  the  head.  The  fitness  of  the  name  '  swamp '  for  even 
the  rivers  will  be  felt  when  it  is  remembered  that  at  the  cross 
ing  of  the  Salkehatchie,  at  Beaufort's  Bridge,  the  stream  had 
fifteen  separate  channels,  each  of  which  had  to  be  bridged 
before  Logan's  corps  could  get  over.  "Whoever  will  consider 
the  effect  of  dragging  the  artillery  and  hundreds  of  loaded 
army  wagons  over  mud  roads  in  such  a  country,  and  of  the 
infinite  labor  required  to  pave  these  roads  with  logs,  levelling 
the  surface  with  smaller  poles  in  the  hollows  between,  adding 
to  the  structure  as  the  mass  sinks  in  the  ooze,  and  continuing 
this  till  the  miles  of  train  have  pulled  through,  will  get  a  con 
stantly  growing  idea  of  the  work  and  a  steadily  increasing 
wonder  that  it  was  done  at  all.  Certainly  he  will  not  wonder 
that  the  Confederate  generals  believed  they  could  count  upon 
Sherman's  remaining  at  his  base  till  the  rains  ceased  and  the 
waters  subsided.  If  the  march  through  Georgia  remained  pict 
ured  in  the  soldiers'  memories  as  a  bright  frolicsome  raid,  that 
through  South  Carolina  was  even  more  indelibly  printed  as  a 
stubborn  wrestle  writh  the  elements,  in  which  the  murky  and 
dripping  skies  were  so  mingled  with  the  earth  and  water  below 
as  to  make  the  whole  a  fit  type  of  "  chaos  come  again  ;  "  but 
where,  also,  the  indomitable  will  of  sixty  thousand  men,  concen 
trated  to  do  the  inflexible  purpose  of  one,  bridged  this  chaos  for 
hundreds  of  miles,  and,  out-laboring  Hercules,  won  a  physical 
triumph,  that  must  always  remain  a  marvel.  And  mile  by  mile 
as  they  advanced  the  General  and  his  men  were  equally  clear 
in  the  conviction  he  had  expressed  to  Grant  before  starting, 
that  every  step  they  took  was  '  as  much  a  direct  attack  upon 
Lee's  army  as  though  it  were  operating  within  the  sound  of 
his  artillery.' ': 

At  the  time  of  paroling  the  Confederate  army  at  Greens 
boro,  Is".  C.,  speaking  of  this  part  of  Sherman's  march  and  of 
the  combination  of  physical  labor  with  military  hardihood, 
General  Johnston  said,  in  the  hearing  of  General  Cox,  that 
there  had  been  no  such  army  since  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar. 
He  might  also  have  remarked  with  truthfulness  that  there 
have  been  few  such  commanders. 

I  have  said  more  about  Sherman,  as  I  did  about  Thomas, 
than  I  intended  to  say ;  but  it  is  proper  that  I  should  refer 
briefly  to  the  armistice  for  which  he  was  so  severely  criticised. 
General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Con- 


THE   CONVENTION   WITH   JOHNSTON.  291 

federate  forces  that  were  endeavoring  to  check  Sherman's 
march  from  Columbia  towards  Richmond,  and  had  been  foiled 
in  every  effort,  notably  at  Bentonsville,  where  he  made  a  stand 
behind  fortifications  from  which  he  was  driven  after  a  severe 
contest, — having  been  advised  of  the  fall  of  Richmond  and  the 
surrender  of  Lee  and  his  army,  opened  a  negotiation  with 
Sherman  for  the  surrender  of  his  army  on  the  13th  of  April, 
the  day  on  which  Lincoln  was  assassinated,  and  in  a  few  days 
terms  were  agreed  upon  between  them,  subject  to  confirmation 
or  rejection  by  the  authorities  which  they  undertook  to  repre 
sent.  Immediately  upon  being  informed  by  Secretary  Stan- 
ton  of  the  convention,  President  Johnson  called  a  meeting  of 
his  Cabinet  at  his  lodgings  (he  had  not  then  taken  possession 
of  the  White  House),  at  which  all  the  members  except  Mr. 
Seward  were  present.  The  meeting  was  in  the  evening,  and 
after  the  convention  had  been  stated  by  Mr.  Stanton,  there 
was  a  free  interchange  of  opinions,  and  the  conclusion  promptly 
reached  that  it  should  be  rejected,  the  armistice  terminated, 
and  no  terms  but  unconditional  surrender  by  Johnston  and 
his  army  accepted.  Mr.  Stanton  was  directed  by  the  President 
to  communicate  this  decision  to  General  Sherman.  In  this 
conclusion  the  President  and  his  cabinet  were  a  unit.  No 
one,  however,  attributed  to  General  Sherman  any  want  of 
fidelity  to  the  Government  except  Secretary  Stanton.  To  him 
the  terms  of  surrender  seemed  such  as  no  truly  loyal  man  could 
have  agreed  to,  and  little  short  of  treason.  The  rest  of  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet  were  equally  strong  against  the  con 
vention,  but  they  were  not  disposed  to  attribute  improper 
motives  to  the  soldier  who  by  four  years  of  excellent  service 
to  the  Government  had  given  the  best  proof  that  could  be 
given  of  unswerving  loyalty. 

It  was  understood  that  the  action  of  the  Cabinet  should 
not  be  made  public  until  after  it  had  been  communicated  to 
General  Sherman,  and  the  armistice  had  been  terminated.  It 
was,  however,  generally  known  the  next  morning,  and  at  the 


292     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

instance  of  Mr.  Stanton,  General  Grant  was  ordered  to 
Ealeigh  to  relieve  General  Sherman  from  all  responsibility,  and 
to  take  command  of  the  army  if  he  should  consider  it  neces 
sary.  Before  Grant's  arrival  at  Raleigh,  Sherman  had  given 
General  Johnston  notice  that  the  Government  had  disap 
proved  of  the  convention,  and  that  the  armistice  was  to  be 
terminated.  This  was  speedily  followed  by  the  unconditional 
surrender  of  the  Confederate  army. 

Ko  one,  I  think,  is  more  willing  than  General  Sherman  to 
admit  that  the  President  and  his  advisers  were  clearly  right 
in  disapproving  of  the  convention.  It  was  ambiguous,  to  say 
the  least,  upon  a  question  of  supreme  importance — slavery. 
Sherman  regarded  that  question  as  having  been  settled  by 
President  Lincoln's  proclamation,  and  his  understanding  was 
that  slaves  were  not  property  which  was  to  be  secured  to  the 
Confederates  by  the  convention.  This  was  Johnston's  under 
standing  as  well  as  Sherman's,  but  it  is  evident  from  the 
recently-published  correspondence  between  the  President  of 
the  Confederacy  and  his  Cabinet,  that  this  was  not  the  con 
struction  which  would  have  been  given  to  the  language  of 
the  convention  at  the  South.  General  Sherman  had  no  reason 
to  complain — and  never  has  complained — that  his  action  was 
disapproved  of  ;  but  he  resented  the  insinuations,  if  not  direct 
charge,  of  the  Secretary  of  "War,  that  in  his  dealings  with 
Johnston  he  had  been  treacherous  to  the  Government  and  to 
freedom.  The  treatment  which  he  received  at  the  close  of 
this  brilliant  campaign  was  mortifying  to  his  honorable  pride. 
He  submitted  to  it  like  a  true  soldier,  but  he  did  not  consider 
it  his  duty  to  bear  tamely  unjust  imputations  upon  his  honor. 
The  cloud  that  rested  upon  him  was  only  partial  and  tempo 
rary.  "When  General  Grant  became  President  of  the  United 
States  the  highest  rank  in  the  army  was  conferred  upon  him, 
and,  in  the  estimate  of  his  countrymen,  his  name  is  second  to 
none  in  the  roll  of  those  by  whose  bravery,  devotion,  and 
talents  the  national  integrity  was  maintained. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

General  W.  S.  Hancock— His  Modesty  and  High  Sense  of  Honor — His  Nomina 
tion  for  the  Presidency — What  he  Said  about  the  Tariff— Habits  Formed 
by  a  Soldier  Unfitted  for  the  Presidency— General  George  B.  McClellan— 
His  Appointment  to  the  Command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac — How  it 
was  Received  in  Indiana  and  throughout  the  Country— Condition  of  the 
Army  when  he  Took  the  Command — Its  Re-Creation — His  Scheme  for  the 
Prosecution  of  the  War — His  Inaction  and  its  Effect  upon  his  Reputation — 
Appointment  by  Congress  of  a  Joint  Committee  to  Inquire  into  the  Con 
duct  of  the  War — Peninsular  Campaign  Commenced  under  Unfavorable 
Circumstances — Its  failure,  although  Great  Skill  was  Manifested  in  its 
Conduct — General  McClellan  not  Properly  Sustained  in  Washington — The 
Command  of  the  Army  Transferred  to  General  Pope — The  Second  Battle 
of  Bull  Run — McClellan  Takes  Again,  at  the  Request  of  the  President,  the 
Command  of  the  Army — Its  Discipline  rapidly  Restored — Battles  of  South 
Mountain  and  Antietam — General  McClellan  Relieved  of  his  Command 
and  Ordered  to  Trenton — The  Hold  he  Had  upon  his  Army — His  Private 
Character. 

I  MET  General  Hancock  for  the  first  time  a  few  days  after 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  I  had  known  something  of  his 
early  history;  that  two  years  after  he  graduated  at  West 
Point  he  had  been  brevetted  first  lieutenant  for  his  bravery  in 
the  war  with  Mexico,  and  I  was  quite  familiar  with  his  mili 
tary  history  from  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war.  I  knew 
that  he  had  Avon  distinguished  honors  on  the  Peninsula,  at 
South  Mountain  and  Antietam,  and  that  his  praise  was  in 
everybody's  mouth  for  the  excellent  judgment  and  gallantry 
that  he  had  displayed  at  Gettysburg.  I  was  therefore  desirous 
to  know  him  personally,  and  I  met  him  with  the  most  favor 
able  impressions  of  his  merit  as  a  soldier.  From  that  time  my 
acquaintance  with  him  was  as  intimate  as  the  difference  in  our 
pursuits  and  our  places  of  abode  would  permit ;  and  the  better 
I  knew  him,  the  higher  did  he  rise  in  my  estimation.  In 


294     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

uprightness,  in  a  keen  sense  of  honor,  in  kindness  of  heart,  in 
generosity,  in  genuine  manliness,  he  had  no  superior  in  the 
army.  To  jealousy  he  was  a  stranger.  If  he  thought,  as 
many  of  his  friends  did,  that  his  services  were  not  properly 
appreciated,  he  never  expressed  or  indicated  it.  In  the  field,  in 
the  management  of  the  troops  under  his  command,  wherever 
valor  came  into  full  exercise,  he  was,  in  the  language  of  one 
who  fought  with  him  and  under  him,  "simply  magnificent." 
Of  his  qualifications  to  command  an  army  and  conduct  a  cam 
paign,  there  must  have  been  some  doubt  in  the  mind  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  or  he  would  have  been  tried  in  that  capacity.  It  is 
not  unlikely  that  these  doubts  were  created  by  Secretary  Stan- 
ton,  with  whom  Hancock  was  not  a  favorite.  There  was 
apparently  no  good  ground  for  them.  In  all  the  battles  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  and  which  were  unfavorable  to  the 
Union  armies,  his  position  was  a  subordinate  one,  and  he  was 
in  no  manner  responsible  for  their  results.  On  the  contrary, 
his  conduct  in  each  was  such  as  to  justify  the  opinion  that  he 
possessed  the  qualities  for  absolute  command ;  that  if  he  had 
succeeded  McClellan  in  command,  the  battle  of  Fredericks- 
burg  would  not  have  been  fought,  and  no  such  disasters  as 
those  at  Chancellorsville  and  Bull  Run  would  have  befallen 
the  grand  Army  of  the  Potomac,  or  of  Virginia,  as  it  was 
for  a  short  time  called.  Burnside  had  rendered  good  service 
in  North  Carolina ;  Hooker  was  distinguished  for  his  bravery, 
and  Pope  had  won  a  high  reputation  in  the  "West;  but 
neither,  outside  of  the  War  Department,  was  considered  the 
equal,  as  a  soldier  or  commander,  of  Hancock.  Their  pref 
erence  to  him  was  a  surprise  to  me,  as  I  think  it  was  to 
others  who  were  acquainted  with  their  respective  histories. 
It  was  by  Hancock's  advice  that  Lee  was  met  at  Gettys 
burg,  and  although  General  Meade  was  in  command,  to  him 

O  /  O  ' 

more  than  to  any  other  one  man  the  nation  was  indebted  for 
the  most  important  victory  of  the  war.  For  his  services  at 
Gettysburg  he  received  the  thanks  of  Congress.  Having  been 


HANCOCK   AND   THE   TAEIFF.  295 

wounded  in  that  battle,  and  thereby  incapacitated  for  active 
service  until  the  spring  of  1864-,  when  General  Grant  had 
been  appointed  General  of  the  Army,  the  only  further  honor 
that  could  be  conferred  upon  him  was  that  of  corps  com 
mander.  As  such  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  battles  of 
the  Wilderness,  Spotsylvania,  North  Anna,  and  Cold  Harbor, 
in  all  of  which  he  displayed  the  high  qualities  that  always  dis 
tinguished  him  upon  the  battle-field,  and  which  gave  to  him  a 
name  among  American  generals  like  that  of  Ney  among  the 
marshals  of  France. 

Next  to  being  elected  President,  the  worst  thing  that  can 
happen  to  a  successful  military  general  is  to  be  a  candidate 
for  that  high  office.  A  stranger  to  the  freedom  of  the  press 
and  the  unfairness  of  politicians,  in  reading  Republican  news 
papers  and  listening  to  Eepublican  orators,  when  Hancock 
was  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  would  have  supposed 
that  he  was  destitute  of  both  intelligence  and  patriotism. 
Nothing  could  have  been  wider  from  the  truth.  Of  his 
patriotism  there  could  be  no  question.  In  general  intelligence, 
he  was  not  inferior  to  any  of  the  well-educated  men  of  the 
army,  except  perhaps  McClellan  and  Sherman  and  Thomas 
and  Canby.  He  was  a  good  deal  ridiculed  for  speaking  of 
the  tariff  as  a  local  question.  That  the  tariff,  which  had 
been  especially  the  apple  of  discord  from  the  foundation  of 
the  Government,  and  which  at  one  time  threatened  the  integ 
rity  of  the  Union,  should  be  spoken  of  by  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  as  a  local  question,  did  seem  to  be  absurd.  But 
was  it  ?  The  tariff  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  questions  before  the  country;  but  it  has  always 
been,  to  a  considerable  extent,  a  sectional,  and  consequently  a 
local  question.  It  has  not  been  a  question  upon  which  the 
two  great  parties  have  been  divided.  It  is  true  that  the 
Republican  party  is  more  strongly  committed  to  the  tariff,  or 
rather  to  its  protective  features,  than  the  Democratic  party, 
but  many  of  the  strongest  advocates  of  a  purely  revenue  tariff 


296  MEX   AND   MEASUEES   OF  HALF   A   CEJSTTUKY. 

are  Republicans,  while  among  the  Democrats  there  are  not  a 
few  out  and  out  protectionists.  In  Congress,  the  advocates 
of  protection  are  chiefly  from  manufacturing  districts — its 
opponents  from  commercial  and  agricultural.  It  was  not, 
therefore,  so  very  absurd  for  General  Hancock  to  speak  of  it 
as  a  local  question. 

The  tariff  certainly  has  never  been  fairly  presented  in  the 
platforms  of  either  party.  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of 
dodging  about  it  on  both  sides.  It  has  never  been  discussed 
throughout  the  country  as  a  national  question,  upon  the 
definite  settlement  of  which  great  national  interests  are 
dependent.  I  trust  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  it 
will  be  so  presented,  discussed  and  settled.  My  position 
upon  this  question  is  not  uncertain.  An  original  Henry 
Clay  Whig,  a  believer  in  what  was  called  the  American  sys 
tem,  and  now  and  since  the  party  was  formed,  a  Republican, 
I  favor  the  reduction  of  the  tariff  to  a  revenue  standard.  A 
tariff  for  revenue  cannot  be  so  framed  as  not  to  give  all  the 
protection  which  is  needed  to  enable  our  manufacturers,  with 
their  superior  aptitude  in  the  invention  and  use  of  machinery, 
and  with  most  of  the  raw  materials  at  hand,  to  compete  suc 
cessfully  in  the  markets  of  the  world  with  foreign  manu 
facturers  and  their  cheaper  labor.  I  do  not  see  where  relief 
from  over-production  in  the  United  States  is  to  come  from 
except  in  a  freer  trade  with  foreign  nations.  Neither  I  nor 
my  children  will  live  to  see  the  day,  but  I  am  hopeful  that  it 
is  not  very  far  in  the  future,  that  the  United  States,  and  the 
European  nations,  that  are  now  following  our  bad  example, 
will  let  down  the  bars  and  remove  all  restrictions  upon 
international  trade.  In  no  other  way  can  brotherhood  be 
established  among  the  nations,  the  principles  of  Christianity 
be  vindicated,  and  the  best  interests  of  all  be  promoted.  The 
country  is,  however,  indebted  to  the  protective  tariff  for  the 
rapid  reduction  of  the  public  debt,  which  is  no  small  compen 
sation  for  its  burden. 


GEOKGE   B.    McCLELLAN.  297 

General  Hancock,  had  he  been  elected,  would  not  have 
been  a  bad  President,  but  I  do  not  think  he  would  have  been 
a  very  good  one.  The  education  and  habits  of  military  men 
do  not  fit  them  for  the  performance  of  high  civil  duties.  Our 
experience  with  military  men  in  the  Presidency  has  not  been 
fortunate.  Jackson  could  not  divest  himself  of  the  habits  of 
the  soldier.  He  was  self-willed,  arbitrary,  overbearing — the 
first  of  the  Presidents  to  give  to  the  administration  of  the 
Government  a  personal  character.  Neither  of  our  military 
Presidents,  except  Washington,  was  selected  because  he  was 
supposed  to  be  especially  qualified  for  the  place,  but  because 
military  prestige  was  a  strong  element  in  popular  favor. 
Harrison  would  not  have  been  thought  of  for  the  Presidency 
if  he  had  not  been  distinguished  in  the  Indian  wars ;  nor 
would  Taylor,  if  he  had  not  been  the  "  Rough  and  Ready  "  of 
the  war  with  Mexico ;  nor  would  Grant,  but  for  his  military 
renown.  The  most  ardent  friends  of  Harrison  or  Taylor 
could  hardly  have  expected  that  their  administrations  would 
be  such  as  the  country  would  have  been  proud  of,  and  Grant 
would  have  stood  higher  in  the  respect  of  the  best  men  of  the 
country  if  he  had  not  been  President.  Washington  was  a 
general,  but  he  was  a  statesman  also,  and  of  the  very  highest 
grade,  of  which  he  had  given  ample  proof  before  his  election. 
It  was  well  for  Hancock  that  he  was  defeated.  As  President, 
he  might  have  been  a  failure.  His  fame  now  rests  upon  his 
military  services,  and  there  it  rests  securely.  His  record  as  a 
soldier  is  without  a  blemish.  A  gallant  soldier  was  he,  with 
out  fear  and  without  reproach. 

The  appointment  of  General  George  B.  McClellan  to  the 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  on  the  day  after  the 
first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  was  hailed  with  satisfaction  through 
out  the  loyal  States.  He  had  graduated  at  West  Point  with 
high  honor.  He  had  been  bre vetted  as  first  lieutenant  and 
captain  for  his  gallantry  in  the  Mexican  war.  As  a  member 
of  a  military  commission,  he  had  visited  the  Crimea  to  observe 


298     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  military  operations  of  the  combined  French  and  English 
armies,  of  which  he  made  a  very  interesting  and  instructive 
report.  He  had  resigned  as  an  army  officer  in  1857,  to  become 
successively  chief  engineer  and  vice-president  of  the  Illinois 
Central,  and  president  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  railroad 
companies.  He  had  promptly  offered  his  services  to  the 
Government  upon  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  and  had  been 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Ohio. 
He  had  been  commissioned  a  major-general  in  the  regular 
army ;  had  taken  command  of  the  Union  forces  in  West  Vir 
ginia  ;  had  beaten  the  Confederates,  Garnet  and  Pegram,  in 
two  sharp  engagements,  and  forced  .General  Lee  to  abandon  the 
State.  There  was,  therefore,  good  reason  for  the  favor  with 
which  his  appointment  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  was  so  universally  received.  I  was  then  living  in 
Indiana,  and  I  recollect  perfectly  how  I  felt,  and  all  my 
friends  felt,  about  the  appointment.  James  M.  Ray,  the 
cashier  of  the  bank  of  which  I  was  the  president,  saw  the 
announcement  before  I  did,  and  came  to  me  with  a  face  radi 
ant  with  joy,  exclaiming :  "  Good  news !  good  news !  General 
McClellan  has  been  ordered  to  Washington  to  take  command 
of  the  army.  There  will  be  no  more  Bull  Runs."  "  You  think, 
then,"  I  said,  "  that  General  McClellan  is  going  to  save  the 
nation  ? "  "  Certainly  I  do.  He  is  to  do  for  the  people  of  the 
United  States  what  Moses  did  for  the  children  of  Israel.  I 
have  not  a  particle  of  doubt  that  he  has  been  raised  up  for 
this  very  purpose,"  was  the  reply. 

Mr.  Ray  was  a  zealous  Old  School  Presbyterian,  a  full 
believer  in  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  and  in  special 
providence.  I  did  not  share  his  faith,  but  I  was  in  full  sympathy 
with  him  in  regard  to  McClellan.  One  of  our  Indiana  regi 
ments  had  been  in  the  West  Virginia  campaign.  Its  colonel 
was  one  of  my  personal  friends,  and  the  account  which  he 
gave  to  me  of  the  conduct  of  General  McClellan  in  that,  the 
opening  campaign  of  the  war,  had  raised  him  very  high  in 


RESULT  OF  MCCLELLAN'S  REMOVAL.  299 

my  estimation.  The  great  expectations  which  were  excited 
by  his  appointment  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  were  not  realized.  In  little  more  than  a  year  he 
was  relieved  of  his  command,  in  disrepute  with  the  War  De 
partment,  and  with  almost  every  bod}7  except  his  personal 
friends,  and  the  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  served  with 
him  and  under  him,  whose  love  for  him  personally,  and  whose 
confidence  in  him  as  a  commander,  were  never  shaken.  I 
thought  at  the  time  that  he  merited  the  displeasure  of  the 
Government,  and  that  neither  he  nor  his  friends  had  reason  to 
complain  of  the  manner  in  which  he  was  treated.  After  I 
went  to  Washington,  and  had  been  better  informed  in  regard 
to  the  Peninsular  campaign,  and  the  battles  of  South 
Mountain  and  Antietam,  and  of  his  conduct  after  these  bat 
tles,  my  mind  underwent  a  radical  change,  and  I  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  instead  of  being  relieved  by  reason  of  his 
unsuccess  in  the  Peninsula,  and  retired  after  the  battle  of 
Antietam,  he  should  have  been  honored  for  his  generalship 
and  continued  in  command.  I  never  think  of  the  second 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  that  place  of  ill  omen  to  the  Union  army ; 
the  slaughter — for  it  was  nothing  else — at  Fredericksburg, 
and  the  disaster  at  Chancellorsville,  without  feeling  that  these 
terrible  misfortunes  were  the  consequences  of  McClellan's  retire 
ment.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  his  army.  He  had 
organized  it.  He  was  its  beloved  chief,  and  it  ought  not  to 
have  been  expected  that  it  would  do  itself  full  justice  when  not 
under  his  command.  It  was  said — I  do  not  know  by  what 
authority — that  in  the  second  and  third  days'  battles  at  Gettys 
burg,  a  part  of  the  Union  forces  fought  under  the  inspiring 
report  that  McClellan  had  been  restored  to  his  command,  and 
was  directing  the  general  movements. 

When  General  McClellan  was  called  to  Washington  to 
take  command  of  the  army  in  July,  1861,  he  found  the  capital 
in  a  state  of  utter  demoralization.  A  victory  had  been  so  con 
fidently  expected,  that  members  of  Congress,  and  other  distin- 


300     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

guished  civilians,  had  followed  the  army  in  its  first  southward 
movement  to  participate  in  the  anticipated  triumph.  The 
defeat  of  the  Union  forces  at  Bull  Run  had  been  so  unlocked 
for  that  a  feeling  of  dread  approximating  a  panic  prevailed 
throughout  the  city.  What  a  few  days  before  was  a  fine 
and,  according  to  the  notions  then  existing,  a  well-disciplined 
arrnv,  had  become  little  better  than  a  disunited,  disorganized 
mob.  So  general  was  the  demoralization,  and  so  insufficient 
were  the  fortifications  to  protect  it,  that  the  capital  was  seem 
ingly  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  The  army  was  to  be  re-cre 
ated  ;  the  despondency  which  pervaded  the  city,  and  which 
was  spreading  throughout  the  country,  was  to  be  checked. 
The  emergency  was  such  as  to  require  at  Washington  for  its 
protection,  and  to  give  direction  to  the  movements  of  the 
Union  troops  which  were  being  organized  throughout  the 
loyal  States,  a  man  who  commanded  the  public  confidence 
and  the  respect  of  the  army  officers.  Such  a  man  was  then 
General  McClellan,  who,  without  an  hour's  delay,  entered 
upon  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  his  command,  and  with 
so  much  vigor  were  they  performed  that  the  gloom  produced 
by  the  first  disaster  speedily  disappeared,  and  wonder  was 
expressed  that  so  great  depression  should  have  been  caused  by 
a  single  defeat.  For  three  months  General  McClellan's  duties 
were  confined  to  protecting  the  city  with  fortifications,  to 
re-creating  and  re-organizing  the  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  to 
making  it  what  it  became  under  his  masterly  direction — the 
best-disciplined  and,  when  ably  led,  the  most  efficient  of  the 
Federal  armies.  The  newspapers  thought  that  he  was  spend 
ing  too  much  time  in  getting  his  forces  in  readiness  for  fight 
ing  ;  but  so  strong  was  his  hold  upon  the  public  confidence  that 
on  the  1st  of  November,  with  the  full  approval  of  General 
Scott,  with  whom  he  was  not  on  amicable  terms,  and  as  stated 
by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  first  annual  message  to  Congress,  with 
the  unanimous  concurrence  of  the  people,  he  was  appointed 
commander-in-chief  of  all  the  national  forces. 


WHY   THE   WAR  WAS   PROLONGED.  301 

This  is  what  General  "Webb  said  of  him  on  his  assuming 
the  command  :  "  The  order  of  General  McClellan  in  assuming 
the  command  is  noticeable  as  coming  from  so  young  an  offi 
cer.  His  orders  to  General  Buell,  in  charge  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  the  Ohio,  and  General  Ilalleck,  in  charge  of  that  of 
Missouri,  together  with  his  letters  to  General  Sherman,  com 
manding  at  Port  Koyal,  and  to  General  Butler  in  the  South 
west,  show  the  vigor  of  thought  and  the  grasp  of  the  man 
who  had  been  called  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war  which 
extended  over  half  a  continent." 

General  McClellan's  scheme  was  indeed  a  magnificent  one. 
It  was  for  active  operations  all  along  the  lines.  Richmond  and 
ISTashville,  Savannah  and  Charleston,  were  to  be  captured ;  the 
Mississippi  Avas  to  be  opened ;  the  Confederates  were  to  be 
pressed  at  all  points  as  nearly  simultaneously  as  might  be  pos 
sible.  For  the  execution  of  such  a  scheme  much  time  was 
required.  Before  it  was  put  into  operation,  or  could  have  been 
under  the  most  efficient  organizer,  an  order  was  issued  without 
his  approval  and  without  his  knowledge  relieving  him  from  the 
command  of  all  the  armies  except  the  Army  of  the  Potomac ; 
and  for  nearly  three  years,  and  until  General  Grant  was 
appointed  lieutenant-general,  the  war  was  carried  on  without 
a  controlling  military  head.  The  prolongation  of  the  war, 
and  many  of  the  reverses  of  the  Union  army,  are  doubtless 
attributable  to  this  fact.  The  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Stanton, 
was  a  very  able  lawyer,  self-reliant  and  energetic,  but  violent 
in  his  prejudices  and  without  military  knowledge.  The  gen 
erals  in  command  of  the  separate  armies  were,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  men  of  ability,  but  there  Avere  jealousies  among 
them,  and  there  Avas  no  absolute  commander  to  give  unity  to 
their  movements. 

When  General  McClellan  issued  his  first  order,  as  com- 
mander-in-chief,  his  star  Avas  at  its  zenith.  Its  decline  AA^as 
rapid.  The  inaction  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the 
autumn  of  1861  Avas  a  great  disappointment  to  the  people  of 


302     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  North.  More  time  was  consumed  than  was  supposed  to 
be  necessary  in  fortifying  the  city  and  in  perfecting  the  disci 
pline  of  the  army.  Meanwhile  the  Confederates  were  active 
and  daring.  They  blockaded  the  Potomac,  and  displayed  their 
flag  almost  within  sight  of  the  capitol.  The  daily  report 
which  went  out  from  Washington,  that  all  was  quiet  on  the 
Potomac,  became  a  reproach  to  the  Government  and  to  the 
army.  It  was  understood  that  there  was  to  be  a  movement 
upon  Richmond  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  but  when  and 
by  what  route  seemed  to  be  quite  undecided.  General  Mc- 
Clellan  was  the  sole  keeper  of  his  own  counsels.  He  had  no 
confidential  communications  with  any  one,  not  even  with  the 
President.  His  relations  with  the  Secretary  of  War  were 
more  than  unfriendly.  To  the  criticisms  of  the  press  he  was 
seemingly  indifferent.  The  only  explanation  which  he  made 
of  his  inaction  was,  that  time  was  required  to  fortify  Washing 
ton  in  such  a  manner  that  no  large  force  would  be  required 
for  its  protection,  and  to  perfect  and  put  into  operation  his 
plans  for  simultaneous  action  by  all  the  armies,  which  might 
be  jeopardized  by  any  partial  movements.  Whether  the  delay 
was  needful  or  not,  he  was  undoubtedly  the  best  judge ;  but 
when  the  winter  was  passed,  and  the  spring  found  the 
grand  army  still  in  its  tents,  the  popular  dissatisfaction  and 
the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Government  became  too  strong  to  be 
resisted.  The  public  debt  was  rapidly  increasing;  the  rela 
tions  between  the  Government  and  foreign  nations  were 
becoming  delicate ;  inaction  could  no  longer  be  tolerated. 

Whether  General  McClellan  was  justly  or  not  chargeable 
with  unnecessary  delay  in  the  long-expected  aggressive  move 
ments  by  the  armies  generally,  and  especially  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  is  a  question  upon  which  a  difference  of  opinion 
existed,  and  still  exists ;  but  he  greatly  suffered  in  consequence 
of  it ;  and  when  he  took  the  field  in  March,  the  prestige  with 
which  he  came  to  Washington  in  July  was  sadly  diminished. 
He  was  no  longer  a  popular  idol.  Doubts  began  to  be  enter- 


DISTRUST   OF   McCLELLAN.  303 

tained  and  expressed  by  men  of  influence  not  only  of  his 
ability  to  command  a  large  army,  but  of  his  devotion  to  the 
cause.  His  failure  to  respond  to  the  "  On  to  Richmond !  "  cry 
created  the  opinion  that  he  lacked  what  is  essential  in  the 
character  of  a  commander — self-confidence ;  his  real,  or  sup 
posed,  want  of  sympathy  with  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of 
the  North  produced  distrust  of  his  fidelity  to  the  true  prin 
ciples  of  civil  liberty,  among  that  large  body  of  earnest  men 
who  clearly  saw,  what  all  intelligent  men  ought  to  have  seen, 
that  the  real  issue  in  the  struggle  in  which  the  Government 
was  engaged  was  between  freedom  and  slavery  ;  that  the 
irrepressible  conflict  had  been  commenced ;  that,  as  it  was 
quite  certain  that  the  Government  could  not  much  longer 
remain  part  slave  and  part  free,  the  question  whether  slavery 
should  be  nationalized  or  uprooted  was  to  be  decided  in  the 
only  way  in  which  it  could  be  decided — by  arms.  Then,  too, 
Congress  had  appointed  a  joint  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
conduct  of  the  war,  by  which  some  of  the  prominent  generals 
were  examined  in  regard  to  what  had  been  done,  and,  in  their 
judgment,  what  ought  to  be  done,  in  order  to  bring  about  a 
more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  members  of  the 
committee  were  able  and  ardent  men,  who  reflected  the  impa 
tience  of  a  large  majority  of  the  people  at  the  inactivity  of 
the  armies,  and  especially  of  the  inactivity  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  The  proceedings  of  the  committee  were  under 
stood  to  be  private,  but  it  was  soon  publicly  known  that  all 
of  the  members  were  in  accord  in  the  opinion  that  there  was 
great  lack  of  vigor  on  the  part  of  the  commander-in-chief,  and 
that  this  opinion  had  been  expressed  in  strong  language  to  the 
President. 

The  committee  not  only  examined  army  officers  in  regard 
to  the  general  conduct  of  the  war,  but  also  in  regard  to  the  line 
of  advance  upon  Richmond.  On  this  point  there  was  a  differ 
ence  between  the  President  and  General  McClellan.  The  for 
mer  had  a  decided  preference  for  a  direct  movement  against 


304     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Richmond,  as  the  surest  to  protect  Washington  and  bring  about 
early  results.  The  plan  of  the  latter  was  to  make  the  attack 
indirectly,  and  by  the  York  or  James  river.  The  committee 
agreed  with  the  President ;  but  as  the  disagreement  between 
him  and  McClellan  might  lead  to  serious  trouble,  the  question 
was  submitted  to  a  council  of  twelve  division  commanders, 
which,  by  a  vote  of  eight  to  four,  approved  of  the  route 
designed  by  McClellan.  The  fact  that  such  a  committee  was 
appointed  showed  a  lack  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
President  and  his  advisers  in  the  judgment  of  the  general 
upon  whom  the  responsibility  for  the  results  of  the  campaign 
was  mainly  to  rest.  Nobody  knew  what  the  general's  plan 
was  until  a  few  days  before  it  was  disclosed  to  the  committee. 
As  has  been  said,  he  was  not  in  confidential  communication 
with  even  the  President,  and  many  were  led  to  believe  that 
the  inaction  of  the  army  was  attributable  to  his  indecision  in 
regard  to  the  line  of  march.  The  alleged,  and  doubtless  the 
true,  reasons  for  his  uncommunicativeness  were  :  first,  that  the 
President  must  of  necessity  be  influenced  in  his  judgment  by 
the  Secretary  of  War,  who  would  not  approve  any  plan  of  his 
designing ;  and  second,  that  his  plan,  if  disclosed,  would  be  at 
once  known  by  the  enemy.  Washington,  at  that  time,  was 
full  of  spies,  who  seemed  to  have  no  difficulty  in  ascertaining 
everything  that  was  done  or  contemplated  by  the  War 
Department,  and  communicating  it  to  Richmond.  Not  only 
was  a  council  of  generals  called  upon  to  determine  the 
route  of  the  army,  but  before  the  campaign  was  commenced, 
and  before  the  comparative  merits  of  the  respective  generals 
could  be  tested,  an  order  was  issued  not  only  in  disregard  of, 
but  in  opposition  to,  the  expressed  wishes  of  McClellan,  for  the 
division  of  the  army  into  four  army  corps,  and  for  the  assign 
ment  of  officers  to  the  commands.  No  intimation  was  given 
to  McClellan  that  such  an  order  was  contemplated,  and  the 
first  knowledge  he  had  of  it  was  from  the  newspapers. 

It  is  thus  seen  that   the  Peninsular  campaign  was  com- 


\VIIY   THE   CAMPAIGN   FAILED.  305 

menced  under  the  most  unfavorable  auspices.  The  plan  of  the 
campaign,  although  consented  to,  was  not  heartily  approved 
by  the  President.  The  general  who  was  to  conduct  it  had 
lost,  in  a  great  measure,  the  public  confidence,  and  he  had 
incurred  the  ill  will  of  Mr.  Stanton,  the  Secretary  of  War. 
How  powerful  this  ill  will  was,  was  exhibited  during  the  war 
in  numerous  instances  besides  that  of  McClellan.  That  a  cam 
paign  commenced  under  such  circumstances  would  be  a  fail 
ure,  ought  to  have  been  expected.  AVas  its  failure  chargeable 
to  McClellan  ?  I  thought  it  was  when  the  campaign  ended, 
and  he  was  relieved  of  his  command ;  but,  as  I  have  said,  I 
thought  differently  when  I  became  acquainted  with  its  history. 
His  plan  had  been  carefully  considered  and  approved  by  a 
majority'  of  the  division  commanders.  It  embraced  the 
co-operation  of  the  navy,  and  it  required,  for  complete  success, 
an  army  of  at  least  140,000  men.  The  navy  was  not  able  to 
render  to  him  any  effective  services,  and  the  available  force  at 
his  disposal  (McDowell's  corps  having  been  detached  for  the 
protection  of  Washington)  never  came  up  to  ninety  thousand 
men.  His  requirements  were  well  known  at  the  War  Depart 
ment  before  the  campaign  was  opened.  If  they  were  not  to 
be  complied  with,  he  should  have  been  so  advised.  The  plan 
should  not  have  been  approved  unless  the  necessary  means  for 
its  execution  were  to  be  supplied.  General  McClellan  should 
have  been  superseded,  or  his  demands  should  not  have  been 
ignored.  To  hold  a  general  responsible  for  the  results  of  a 
campaign  which  he  has  planned,  without  furnishing  him  with 
what  he  considers  needful  for  its  accomplishment,  is  rank 
injustice.  Was  not  this  injustice  meted  out  to  General 
McClellan? 

It  has  not  been  denied  by  any  competent  and  impartial 
soldier  that  the  Union  forces  were  well  handled  in  all  the 
Peninsular  battles.  The  elements  were  against  them.  Unusual 
rains  had  made  the  roads  nearly  impassable.  A  large  extent 
of  land  bordering  upon  the  rivers  was  inundated.  To  the 
20 


306     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

* 

Union  soldiers  it  seemed  like  a  God-forsaken  country  ;  but 
they  sustained  their  labors  and  discomforts  with  a  heroism, 
and  met  the  enemy,  the  flower  of  the  Confederate  armies,  with 
a  bravery,  that  have  never  been  surpassed.  The  first  battle, 
the  battle  at  Williamsburg,  was  fought  while  McClellan  was 
away.  Some  misunderstanding  between  the  corps  command 
ers  made  the  victory  dearly  bought  ;  but  it  was  a  victory.  In 
the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  which  was  fought  a  fe\v  days  after, 
the  Confederates  were  the  assailants,  and  it  was  fought  on  their 
part  with  the  determination  to  drive  the  Federal  forces  from 
their  position  and  cut  off  their  line  of  supplies  before  they  were 
reinforced  by  McDowell.  The  plan  was  carefully  considered, 
and  would  have  been  successful  but  for  the  excellent  general 
ship  of  the  Federal  officers  and  the  indomitable  pluck  of  the 
soldiers.  The  fighting  was  admirable  on  both  sides,  but  the 
result  was  a  severe  discomfiture  of  the  Confederates,  who  dur 
ing  the  night  retreated  to  the  intrenchments  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  Richmond.  At  the  close  of  this  battle,  the 
leading  Federal  column  was  within  four  miles,  the  entire  army 
Avithin  ten  miles,  of  the  Confederate  capital.  General  McClel 
lan  reported  that  his  active  force  did  not  exceed  80,000  men; 
that  from  the  best  information  he  could  obtain,  the  Confeder 
ates,  besides  being  in  defensive  positions,  and  with  a  base  of 
supplies  near  at  hand,  greatly  outnumbered  him.  In  his  appeal 
to  the  President,  he  said  :  "  I  ask  for  all  the  men  that  the  War 
Department  can  send  to  me.  I  will  fight  the  enemy,  whatever 
their  force  may  be,  with  whatever  force  I  have,  and  I  firmly 
believe  we  shall  beat  them  ;  but  our  triumph  should  be  decisive 
and  complete.  The  soldiers  of  this  army  love  their  Govern 
ment,  and  will  fight  for  its  support.  You  may  rely  upon  them. 
They  have  confidence  in  me  as  their  general,  and  in  you  as 
their  President.  Strong  reinforcements  will  at  least  save  the 
lives  of  many  of  them.  The  greater  our  force,  the  more  per 
fect  will  be  our  combinations  and  the  less  our  loss." 

General    McDowell,   with   nothing  to  do   but  to  protect 


MCDOWELL'S  FATAL  RETENTION.  307 

Washington,  which  was  is  no  real  danger,  could  then  have  been 
at  once  placed  at  the  disposal  of  McClellan.  If  he  had  been, 
Richmond  would  probably  have  fallen  and  the  campaign  would 
have  been  crowned  with  success.  All  of  McClellan's  movements, 
after  York  had  been  abandoned,  had  been  made  in  the  confi 
dent  expectation  that  he  could  rely  upon  McDowell  for  rein 
forcements  when  reinforcements  should  be  absolutely  neces 
sary.  The  reply  of  the  President  to  McClellan's  appeal  was 
favorable,  and  an  order  was  given  to  McDowell  to  place  himself 
at  McClellan's  command ;  but  before  the  order  could  be  exe 
cuted  there  was  a  panic  in  Washington,  which  was  caused  by  the 
sudden  appearance  of  Stonewall  Jackson  upon  the  Potomac, 
over  which  he  had  driven  General  Banks  from  the  valley  of 
Virginia.  The  order  to  McDowell  was  therefore  revoked,  and 
his  forces  remained  in  front  of  Washington,  and  for  its  protec 
tion,  about  which  great  solicitude  was  felt  throughout  the 
country.  There  is  good  reason  for  the  opinion  which  was 
entertained  by  McClellan  that  this  raid  by  Jackson  was  made, 
not  with  a  view  of  an  attack  upon  Washington,  but  to  prevent 
the  reinforcement  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Everything 
of  an  important  character  that  was  done  or  contemplated  in 
Washington  was  speedily  known  in  Richmond.  It  was  there 
understood  that  McClellan  expected  to  be  reinforced  by 
McDowell.  To  prevent  this  reinforcement  was  a  matter  of 
deep  concern  to  the  Confederates,  and  Jackson  was  ordered  to 
make  a  show  of  an  attack  upon  Washington. 

This  was  done.  McDowell  did  not  reinforce  McClellan, 
and  in  a  few  days  Jackson  was  in  Richmond  with  the  army  of 
Virginia,  at  the  head  of  which  was  General  Lee,  who  had  been 
assigned  to  its  command  after  the  battle  at  Fair  Oaks,  at 
which  General  Johnston  had  been  wounded.  It  was  this  rein 
forcement  of  General  Lee  that  changed  the  movements  of 
both  armies.  McClellan  had  received  some  reinforcements, 
but  they  were  not  equal  to  what  General  Lee  had  received  in 
the  accession  of  Jackson  to  his  command.  Up  to  this  time  the 


308  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

Union  army  had  been  steadily  advancing  towards  Richmond, 
until  it  was  nearly  in  sight  of  the  city.  Then  the  advance  was 
checked  ;  the  Confederates  became  the  assailants,  and  McClel- 
lan  was  forced  to  carry  out  a  design  he  had  formed  in  case  he 
was  not  reinforced,  and  the  Confederates  proved  to  be  too 
strong  to  be  overcome,  of  making  the  James  his  base  for 
further  operations.  In  carrying  out  this  design  he  was 
-attacked  with  great  vigor,  and  for  seven  days  there  was  con 
tinuous,  desperate  fighting,  in  which,  however,  the  Confeder 
ates  were  the  heaviest  sufferers,  although  the  strongest  in 
numbers.  The  last  and  most  desperate  battle  was  at  Malvern 
Hill,  at  which  the  Confederates  were  repelled  at  all  points ; 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  it  was  fought,  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  was  upon  the  banks  of  the  James  and 
under  the  guns  of  the  Union  fleet.  Thus  ended  the  first 
advance  upon  Richmond.  Two  years  after,  the  Union  army 
was  upon  the  same  river,  to  which  it  had  been  forced  from  the 
direct  line  on  which  the  campaign  had  been  commenced,  and 
it  was  here  that  the  effective  siege  of  Richmond  was  com 
menced  by  General  Grant.  General  McClellan  had  always 
thought  that  Washington  would  be  best  protected  by  energetic 
movements  against  Richmond.  The  Confederates  were  almost 
as  sensitive  about  the  safety  of  Richmond  as  the  officers  of 
the  Government  and  the  people  of  the  North  were  about  the 
safety  of  Washington.  Washington  was  well  fortified,  and 
was  never  in  real  danger  after  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run, 
except  when  the  Union  forces  had  been  withdrawn  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Richmond.  It  required  no  large  army  in 
front  for  its  protection  while  Richmond  was  threatened.  This 
was  McClellan's  opinion,  and  it  was  in  accord  with  that  which 
was  afterwards  entertained  by  General  Grant ;  as  was  also 
his  opinion  that  the  line  of  attack  upon  the  Confederate 
capital  was  by  the  James. 

The  retrograde  movement  of  McClellan  towards  the  James 
for  a  new  base  of  supplies,  and  a  movement  against  Richmond 


THE   SECOND    BULL    KUN.  309 

on  the  south  as  soon  as  he  was  reinforced,  was  a  retreat, 
but  so  skilfully  was  it  conducted  that  his  forces  were  not 
demoralized  by  it.  Such  was  the  confidence  of  the  soldiers 
in  their  commander,  that  they  fought  with  the  same  spirit 
and  maintained  the  same  discipline  that  they  would  have 
displayed  if  they  had  been  the  assailants.  Outnumbered  by 
the  enemy,  they  preserved  their  order,  and  although  stead 
ily  retreating,  they  were  never  overcome.  The  manner  in 
which  the  retreat  was  conducted  commanded  the  admiration 
of  military  men,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home.  The  spirit  of  the 
army  when  it  reached  the  James  was  unbroken.  Its  numbers 
had  been  diminished  by  battles  and  by  sickness,  not  by  deser 
tions.  It  was  the  same  highly  disciplined,  resolute  army  that 
it  was  when  it  was  nearly  within  sight  of  Richmond.  All  it 
needed  was  reinforcements  to  renew  the  offensive,  and  from 
the  same  position  that  was  occupied  by  the  same  army  under 
General  Grant  two  years  after.  Instead  of  reinforcements, 
General  McClellan  received  an  order  to  transfer  his  army  from 
the  James  to  a  point  on  the  Potomac  near  Washington. 
Against  this  order  remonstrance  was  vain,  and  although  he 
believed  it  would  lead  to  disaster,  he  obeyed  without  hesita 
tion.  Nor  did  he  complain  when  he  saw,  to  his  inexpressible 
mortification,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under  an  order  from 
Washington,  transferred  to  the  command  of  General  Pope. 
Deprived  of  his  command,  without  having  been  formally 
superseded,  he  was  denied  even  the  privilege  of  being  present 
at  the  pending  conflict.  To  his  request  that  he  might  go  with 
his  staff  to  the  scene  of  battle — the  disastrous  second  battle  of 
Bull  Hun — to  be  present  with  his  men,  who  he  "  thought  would 
fight  none  the  worse  for  his  being  with  them  " — General  Ilal- 
leck  replied  :  "  I  cannot  answer  without  seeing  the  President, 
as  General  Pope,  by  his  order,  is  in  command  of  the  Depart 
ment."  Could  there  have  been  anything  more  wicked  ?  Here- 
was  the  general  by  whom  the  army  had  been  trained  to  ser 
vice — the  army  of  which  he  was  the  idol — humbly  begging 


310  MEIST   AND   MEASURES   OF  HALF  A   CENTUEY. 

that  he  might  share  its  fate  in  a  battle  of  momentous  impor 
tance,  and  being  coolly  informed  that  his  request  could  not  be 
complied  with  without  the  authority  of  the  President.  Hal- 
leek  must  have  known  that  General  McClellan's  presence  on 
the  battle-field  would  greatly  encourage  the  men  that  confided 
in  him  and  loved  him.  If  authority  from  the  President  was 
needed  in  order  that  this  request  might  be  complied  with,  why 
was  not  the  authority  obtained  ?  General  McClellan  was  not 
superseded,  but  he  was  deprived  of  his  command  by  an  order 
which  must  have  been  prepared  for  the  purpose  of  insulting 
him.  After  the  entire  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  been  com 
bined  with  what  was  then  called  the  Army  of  Virginia,  the 
following  order  was  issued  from  the  War  Department : 

"  WAR  DEPARTMENT  August  30, 1862. 

"  The  following  are  the  commanders  of  armies  operating  in 
Virginia : 

"  General  Burnside  commands  his  own  corps,  except  those 
that  have  been  temporarily  detached  and  assigned  to  General 
Pope. 

"  General  McClellan  commands  that  portion  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  that  has  not  been  sent  forward  to  General  Pope's 
command. 

u  General  Pope  commands  the  Army  of  Virginia,  and  all  the 
forces  temporarily  attached  to  it.  All  the  forces  are  under 
the  command  of  Major-Gen eral  Halleck,  General-in-Chief. 

"  E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Assistant  Adjutant  General." 

If  McClellan  had  been  of  a  revengeful  disposition,  the 
opportunity  of  gratifying  it  was  at  hand.  After  a  number  of 
hard  days'  fighting,  the  army  under  General  Pope  was  defeat 
ed.  When  the  news  of  his  defeat  reached  Washington  it 
produced,  of  course,  a  panic — a  panic  of  the  most  exciting  char 
acter.  The  enemy  were  supposed  to  be  close  at  hand,  and 
with  force  enough  to  capture  the  city.  In  this  emergency  the 
eyes  of  the  citizens  and  of  the  officers  of  the  Government 
were  involuntarily  turned  to  McClellan  as  the  only  man  who 
could  save  it.  Not  having  been  permitted  to  participate  in. 


McCLELLAN   EESTORED.  3.11 

the  battles  which  had  resulted  so  unfortunately  to  the  Union 
forces,  he  had  joined  his  family  in  Washington.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  September  2  he  was  surprised  by  a  call  from  the 
President  and  General  Ilalleck,  who  came  to  him  with  the 
tidings  from  the  front,  and  to  ask  that  he  would  again  take 
command  of  the  army.  Three  days  before  he  had  been  virtu 
ally  deprived  of  his  command  by  an  order  from  the  War 
Department.  Would  he  -now  take  command  of  the  forces 
demoralized  by  defeat  and  frying  before  the  enemy,  and  save 
the  capital  ?  This  was  the  most  that  was  then  hoped  for : — 
Would  he  take  the  command,  and  prevent  the  Confederates 
from  entering  Washington?  Without  a  moment's  hesitation, 
forgetful  of  the  injustice  he  had  suffered,  the  indignities  that 
had  been  heaped  upon  him,  he  replied  that  he  would  accept 
the  command,  and  stake  his  life  upon  the  protection  of  the 
city.  Within  an  hour  he  was  in  the  saddle  with  his  staff 
inspecting  the  approaches  to  the  city  from  the  south,  and 
making  arrangements  for  the  reception  of  the  defeated  and 
and  demoralized  troops.  So  great  were  the  fears  at  the  War 
Department  of  an  immediate  attack  upon  the  city,  that  he  was 
instructed  by  Halleck  not  to  go  to  the  front,  but  to  give  his 
attention  to  the  defences.  In  the  afternoon,  however,  he  rode 
out  a  few  miles  from  the  city,  and  met  the  foremost  brigade  of 
the  retreating  army,  and  Generals  Pope  and  McDowell,  with  a 
regiment  of  cavalry.  Having  informed  General  Pope  that 
the  defence  of  Washington  had  been  assigned  to  him,  lie  rode 
on  a  few  miles  further,  and  met  a  large  body  of  troops,  by 
whom  he  was  recognized,  and  as  the  report  went  from  com 
pany  to  company,  and  from  regiment  to  regiment,  that  their 
beloved  general,  '•  Little  Mac,"  as  he  was  sometimes  familiarly 
called,  was  at  the  head  again,  there  was  such  shouting  as  was 
never  before  heard  from  a  retreating  army. 

Of  the  merits  of  a  commander,  none  are  so  competent  to 
judge  as  his  soldiers.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  com 
posed  of  men  of  unusual  intelligence.  There  were  hundreds 


312     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

in  the  ranks  who  were  fitted  to  be  captains ;  scores  who  were 
fitted  to  be  colonels  and  generals.  The  manner  in  which 
McClellan  was  received  by  such  men — the  men  whom  he  had 
trained,  under  whom  they  had  fought  in  the  desperate  battles 
of  the  Peninsula — was  not  only  a  compliment  to  him  as  a  man, 
but  a  strong  testimony  to  his  merit  as  a  commander.  I  have 
met  with  many  of  these  men  since  the  Avar,  and  from  none 
have  I  heard  a  wrord  that  was  not  favorable  to  McClellan. 
He  had  been,  unfortunately,  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
on  a  platform  that  declared  the  war  a  failure,  and  he  conse 
quently  suffered  politically  in  the  esteem  of  many  of  his  fellow- 
soldiers,  but  their  respect  for  him  as  a  commander,  and  per 
sonally,  was  never  lost.  No  general  ever  commanded  the 
confidence  of  his  men  to  a  greater  degree;  none  was  ever 
more  loved. 

General  McClellan  took  the  command  of  the  army  at  the 
verbal  request  of  the  President,  for  the  defence  of  the  city, 
which,  at  that  time,  was  supposed  to  be  in  imminent  danger, 
and  the  only  order  which  was  issued  with  respect  to  his  duty 
was  the  following : 

"  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  ADJUTANT  GENERAL'S  OFFICE,    ) 
"  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Sept.  2,  1862.  j 

"  Major-General  McClellan  will  have  command  of  the  for 
tifications  of  Washington,  and  of  the  troops  for  the  defence  of 
the  Capital. 

"  By  order  of  Major-General  HALLECK. 

"E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Assistant  Adjutant  General.' 

Fairly  interpreted,  this  order  meant  that  he  should  not 
only  take  charge  of  the  fortifications,  but  do  whatever  he 
thought  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  city.  No  one 
knew  better  than  he  the  character  of  the  fortifications,  for 
they  had  been  mainly  constructed  under  his  general  directions, 
and  no  one  was  so  well  qualified  to  anticipate  and  thwart  the 
movements  of  the  enemy.  He  regarded  General  Lee  as  too 
prudent  a  soldier  to  attack  the  city  in  front,  and  he  was  con 
fident  that  if  any  movement  against  it  were  attempted,  it 


SOUTH   MOUNTAIN   AND   ANTIETAM.  313 

would  be  by  cutting  off  its  communications  with  the  North. 
To  prevent  this  movement  from  being  successful,  if  attempted, 
and  to  beat  the  enemy  in  battle,  was  the  only  way  in  which 
the  city  could  be  protected.  His  duty  was  therefore  plain, — 
to  restore  the  discipline  of  the  army ;  to  renew  confidence  in 
itself,  so  that  it  would  be  prepared  to  meet  the  enemy  by 
which  it  had  been  recently  beaten.  Time  was  pressing ;  the 
enemy  flushed  with  victory,  and  inspired  by  the  belief  that  the 
Confederate  banner  would  soon  wave  over  the  Capitol,  was  in 
the  neighborhood.  This  enemy  was  to  be  met  and  driven 
back  towards  Richmond  by  the  very  troops  that  had  been 
demoralized  by  recent  disasters. 

In  accepting  the  command  at  this  critical  time,  General 
McClellan  understood  perfectly  the  tremendous  responsibility 
which  it  involved.  He  knew  that  the  safety  of  the  capital, 
and  perhaps  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  depended  upon  the 
result  of  a  battle  or  battles  soon  to  be  fought.  He  knew  that 
the  army  he  should  have  to  meet  was  the  best  disciplined  and 
the  most  high  spirited  of  the  Confederate  forces,  and  that  they 
were  under  the  command  of  the  ablest  officers  in  the  Confede 
rate  service.  He  knew,  also,  that  JIalleck,  the  General-in- 
Chief,  was  unfriendly  to  him ;  that  Stanton,  the  Secretary  of 
War,  was  his  enemy ;  and  that  any  misfortune  that  might 
happen  to  his  command  would  be  attributed,  by  his  superiors 
in  station,  to  a  want  of  ability  or  to  misconduct  on  his  part. 
All  this  he  knew,  but  he  did  not  hesitate  to  comply  with  the 
request  of  the  President.  He  was  true  to  his  convictions  of 
duty.  He  had  confidence  in  the  army,  and  he  had  confidence 
in  himself.  The  simple  fact  that  lie  was  willing  to  take  the 
command  under  circumstances  so  inauspicious  should  have  dis 
pelled  all  doubts  in  regard  to  his  self-reliance  and  self-confi 
dence.  The  rapidity  with  which  he  restored  the  discipline 
and  revived  the  spirit  of  his  troops,  and  the  manner  in  which 
he  handled  them  in  the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antie- 
tarn,  should  have  banished  forever  all  scepticism  in  regard  to 


314     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

his  merits  as  a  commander.  In  t\vo  weeks  from  the  time  at 
which  he  took  the  command  two  very  severe  battles  had  been 
fought  and  the  Confederate  army  driven  back  over  the  Poto- 

o  «/ 

mac,  which  it  had  so  recently  crossed  in  triumph.  After  bat 
tles  have  been  fought,  it  is  easy  enough  for  unfriendly  critics 
to  discover  how  this  or  that  movement  might  have  been  im 
proved,  how  this  or  that  mistake  might  have  been  avoided  ;  but 
it  has  never  been  denied,  by  fair-minded  and  competent  judges, 
that,  on  the  whole,  the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antie- 
tarn  were  skilfully  fought  by  the  Union  forces  ;  nor  is  there 
room  for  reasonable  doubt  that  if  the  Confederates  had  been 
the  victors,  they  would  have  taken  possession  of  the  capital. 
May  it  not  be  justly  said,  therefore,  that  the  nation  was  at 
that  time  saved  from  so  terrible  a  misfortune  by  General 
McClellan?  And  yet,  strange  as  it  now  appears,  and  still 
more  strange  as  it  will  appear  to  the  future  historian,  on  the 
5th  of  November,  within  two  months  from  the  time  the  battle 
of  Antietam  was  fought,  the  following  orders  were  issued  : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  OF  THE  ARMY,  ) 

"  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  November  5,  1862.      f 

"  GENERAL  :  On  the  receipt  of  the  order  of  the  President 
sent  herewith,  you  will  immediately  turn  over  your  command 
to  Major-General  Burnside,  and  repair  to  Trenton,  New  Jersey, 
reporting,  on  your  arrival  at  that  place,  for  further  orders. 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  H.  W.  H ALLEGE,  General-in-Chief. 

"  Major-General  McClellan." 


"  WAR  DEPARTMENT,  ADJUTANT  GENERAL'S  OFFICE.          ) 
.     "  WASHINGTON,  D.  C..  Nov.  5,  1862.      <j 

"  By  direction  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  it  is 
ordered  that  Major-General  McClellan  be  relieved  from  the 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  that  Major-Gen- 
eral  Burnside  take  the  command  of  the  army. 

"  By  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 

"  E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Adjutant-General." 

Thus   summarily  was  McClellan  dismissed,  and  thus  was 


McCLELLAN's   HOLD   ON   THE   ARMY.  315 

ended  his  military  career.  The  alleged  reasons  for  his  retire 
ment  were : 

First,  that  he  failed  to  follow  up  the  victory  of  Antietam 
as  he  ought  to  have  done,  and  might  have  done,  by  pursuing 
the  enemy,  and  preventing  him  from  crossing  the  Potomac. 
To  this  it  was  only  necessary  for  him  to  say  that  his  men 
were  nearly  exhausted  by  marching  and  fighting,  and  were  in 
no  condition  to  follow  an  army,  the  very  flower  of  the  Con 
federate  force,  under  the  command  of  the  ablest  Confederate 
generals,  and  that  his  duties  had  been  strictly  limited  to  the 
defence  of  the  city. 

Second,  that  after  he  had  crossed  the  river,  he  failed  to 
comply  with  the  orders  of  the  President  for  aggressive  move 
ments  against  General  Lee ;  that  precious  time  was  wasted  in 
preparations  to  move.  The  answer  to  this  allegation  was 
found  in  the  fact,  substantiated  by  conclusive  evidence,  that 
his  army  had  not  been  supplied  with  what  was  needed  for  an 
aggressive  campaign. 

McClellan  was  retired,  and  what  happened  to  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  ?  Terrible  slaughter  under  Burnside  at  Freder- 
icksburg;  crushing  defeat  at  Chancellorsville  under  Hooker. 

The  hold  which  McClellan  had  upon  his  men,  their  love 
for  him,  and  the  confidence  they  had  in  him,  were  displayed 
when  he  took  his  leave  of  them  and  turned  over  the  com 
mand  to  Burnside,  when  it  was  difficult  to  say  which  predom 
inated,  sorrow  or  indignation ;  sorrow^  that  they  were  to  be 
separated  from  their  beloved  commander ;  indignation  at  the 
injustice  with  which  he  had  been  treated. 

The  prevalent  opinion  in  regard  to  McClellan  was,  that  it 
was  his  habit  to  overrate  the  strength  of  the  enemy  and 
underrate  his  own  ;  that  he  was  too  much  of  an  engineer,  too 
cautious,  too  prudent  for  an  efficient  commander ;  that  he  was 
wanting  in  that  self-confident  daring  which,  united  with  a 
clear  head  and  military  knowledge,  has  been  the  characteris 
tic  of  successful  generals.  His  position  from  the  time  he  took 


316  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF  HALF   A    CEISTTUKY. 

command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  up  to  the  close  of  his 
military  career  was  such  as  to  make  him  cautious  and  pru 
dent,  but  I  have  looked  in  vain  in  his  military  history  for  the 
evidence  of  such  defects  as  have  been  attributed  to  him.  It  is 
certainly  not  found  in  his  first  campaign  in  West  Virginia; 
not  in  the  Peninsula,  where  he  had  everything  to  contend 
with  which  was  calculated  to  discourage  him  and  his  army, 
with  no  word  of  cheer  from  the  headquarters  in  Washington ; 
not  in  his  willingness  to  take  again  the  command  of  the 
army  after  it  had  been  shattered  and  demoralized  ;  not  in 
the  rapidity  with  which  its  discipline  was  restored  and  its 
spirit  revived,  so  that  it  was  able  to  meet  and  overcome  the 
same  foes  by  which  it  had  been  defeated  a  few  days  before. 
The  evidence  of  General  McClellan's  deficiencies  are  found, 
not  in  a  correct  history  of  his  military  career,  but  in  the  press 
and  in  the  dispatches  of  the  War  Department.  He  was  unfor 
tunate  in  not  comprehending  the  true  cause  of  the  rebellion, 
and  in  the  view  which  he  entertained  upon  the  question  of 
slavery.  He  was  unfortunate  in  the  use  of  his  name  by  his 
political  friends,  in  connection  Avith  the  Presidency  while  in 
the  field.  He  was  still  more  unfortunate  in  permitting  his 
temper  to  get  the  better  of  his  judgment,  in  attributing  to  the 
War  Department  indifference  in  regard  to  the  result  of  the 
Peninsular  campaign ;  in  writing  to  the  President  a  letter 
which  would  have  been  well  enough  in  a  political  contest,  but 
which  was  grossly  improper  when  addressed  by  a  general  in 
the  field  to  his  superior.  All  this  and  more  can  be  admitted 
without  derogation  to  his  merits  as  a  soldier.  He  was  perma 
nently  retired  under  a  cloud  within  little  more  than  a  month 
from  the  time  when,  with  a  recently  beaten  army,  he  had 
achieved  a  very  important  victory ;  retired  under  circum 
stances  that  seemingly  justified  the  opinion  that  there  were 
influences  at  work  in  Washington  which  demanded  his  retire 
ment  as  a  political  necessity.  To  doubt  that  the  cloud  that 
rested  upon  him  when  he  was  ordered  to  Trenton  will  be  cleared 


CONFEDERATE  VIEW    OF   McCLELLAN.  317 

away,  that  his  high  military  character  will  be  vindicated,  would 
be  to  doubt  the  triumph  of  truth  over  jealousy  and  misrepre 
sentation.  A  Confederate  general  who  served  with  distinction 
in  the  Army  of  Virginia  under  Johnston  and  Lee,  said  to  me 
in  1871:  "'There  was  no  Union  general  whom  we  so  much 
dreaded  as  McClellan.  We  could  always  tell  when  he  was  in 
command  by  the  manner  in  which  the  Union  troops  were 
handled,  and  the  number  of  our  dead  and  wounded.  We 
received  the  blows,  and  we  knew  who  dealt  the  heaviest  ones. 
We  were  sorry  when  we  heard  that  he  had  been  restored  to 
command,  after  we  had  defeated  Pope,  and  we  were  glad 
when  he  was  retired."  "  Did  you  consider  him  the  ablest  of 
the  generals  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  ? "  I  inquired. 
"  Certainly  we  did,"  was  they  reply  ;  "  he  had,  as  we  thought 
no  equal." 

It  is  enough  to  say  of  General  McClellan  in  his  private 
and  social  life,  that  he  was  in  the  truest  sense  a  Christian 
gentleman.  I  had  no  sympathy  with  him  in  politics;  I  did 
what  I  could  to  prevent  his  election  to  the  Presidency.  What 
I  have  said  about  him  has  been  prompted  only  by  a  sense  of 
duty  to  one  who  periled  his  life  in  his  country's  service,  and 
who  merited  lasting  honor  instead  of  the  ignominy  to  which 
he  was  subjected,  and  the  disrepute  which  still,  to  some 
extent,  attaches  to  his  name. 

The  foregoing  was  written  before  General  McClellan's 
autobiography  (which  I  have  not  read),  was  published.  I 
have  preferred,  in  my  sketches  of  prominent  men,  to  present 
the  impressions  which  have  been  made  upon  me  by  my  own 
observations,  and  what  I  considered  reliable  information, 
rather  than  to  subject  myself  to  the  influence  of  what  may 
have  been  said  bv  themselves  or  their  friends. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

General  Grant  in  the  Spring  of  1861 — War  not  Expected  until  the  Attack  upon 
Suinter — Grant  Appointed  Colonel — A  Brigadier  by  Brevet — Battle  of 
Belmont — Appointed  to  the  Command  of  the  District  of  Cairo — Capture 
of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson — Appointed  Major-General  of  Volunteers — 
General  C.  F.  Smith — Battle  of  Shiloh — Union  Army  Saved  by  Arrival  of 
General  Buell  with  Reinforcements — Capture  of  Vicksburg— It  places  Gen 
eral  Grant  at  the  Head  of  the  Union  Generals -The  Man  of  Destiny — 
Battle  of  Chickamauga — General  William  S.  Rosecrans — His  Merits  as  a 
Soldier — Battles  of  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge — General 
Grant  made  Lieutenant- General — Condition  of  the  Union  Army  in  1864 — 
Battles  of  the  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania,  North  Anna,  and  Cold  Har 
bor — Heavy  Losses  Sustained  by  the  Union  Army — Difference  in  the  Con 
dition  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  States — The  Siege  and  Capture  of 
Richmond — General  Grant's  Character  and  Capabilities  as  a  Soldier. 

THAT  fact  is  stranger  than  fiction,  is  illustrated  in  the  life  of 
General  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  Few  men  were  ever  subject 
to  so  great  vicissitudes,  none  ever  rose  so  rapidly  from  obscu 
rity  to  fame ;  from  a  very  low  estate  to  the  highest.  In  the 
spring  of  1861  he  was  utterly  unknown  outside  of  a  very 
limited  circle.  In  1868  he  was  elected  President  of  the 
United  States  by  an  overwhelming  majority  over  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  the  day. 

Educated  at  West  Point,  he  entered  the  army  a  second 
lieutenant,  and  for  gallantry  in  the  war  with  Mexico,  he 
was  brevetted  captain.  In  1853  he  was  promoted  to  a  full 
captaincy,  which  he  resigned  the  year  following  to  engage  in 
farming,  in  which  he  was  unsuccessful.  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  civil  war  he  was  in  the  employment  of  his  father,  at  a 
tannery  in  Galena,  Illinois.  To  no  graduate  of  West  Point 
could  the  outlook  for  life  have  been  more  unpromising  than 
it  must  have  been  to  Captain  Grant  in  the  spring  of  1861. 
He  had  been,  in  all  branches  except  mathematics,  below  medi- 


GRANT   IN   1861.  319 

ocrity  in  his  class  at  West  Point ;  his  mind  had  not  been  im 
proved  by  study  after  he  graduated ;  he  had  no  capacity  for 
business;  he  lacked  self-control;  he  was  dependent  upon  his 
father  for  his  own  support  and  the  support  of  his  family.  To 
him  the  war  was  a  godsend.  It  developed  qualities  which 
war  only  could  bring  out.  But  for  the  Avar,  he  would  have 
lived  in  poverty,  and  died  in  obscurity.  Until  its  actual  com 
mencement,  war  between  the  States,  war  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Government,  had  not  been  anticipated,  or  even  seemed 
possible  to  the  people  of  the  jSTorthern  States.  There  had 
been  threatenings  at  the  South  of  a  rupture  of  the  Union; 
some  of  the  States  had  adopted  ordinances  of  secession ;  but 
until  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon,  a  resort  to  arms  was  foreign 
to  the  thought  of  all  loyal  citizens.  The  attack  upon  Sumter 
dispelled  this  illusion,  deeply  stirred  the  martial  spirit,  and 
called  into  exercise  the  patriotism  of  all  to  whom  the  Union 
was  of  priceless  value.  The  call  of  the  President  for  seventy- 
five  thousand  volunteers  was  responded  to  in  a  manner  that 
showed  how  strong  the  love  of  the  Union  among  the  masses 
really  was.  To  this  call,  three  times  the  number  required 
tendered  their  services.  Men  were  plenty,  but  there  was  a 
lack  of  competent  officers.  The  militia  system  had  long  since 
been  permitted  to  die  out.  A  small  Federal  army  had  been 
sufficient  to  protect  the  frontier  against  the  Indians;  there  had 
been  no  other  use  for  it  since  the  war  with  Mexico.  With 
the  exception  of  a  few  militia  regiments  in  the  large  cities, 
there  were  no  military  organizations  in  the  United  States. 
In  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  the  people  were  quite  unac 
customed  to  the  use  of  arms.  Most  of  the  settlers  in  the  new 
States  knew  how  to  handle  the  rifle,  but  very  few  had  ever 
seen  what  was  called  a  "  training."  Hence  men  who  had 
received  a  military  education  were  in  great  demand ;  and  Grant, 
who  went  to  Springfield,  Illinois,  with  a  company  which  had 
been  formed  at  Galena,  and  of  which  he  had  been  chosen 
captain,  was  welcomed  warmly  by  the  Governor.  After  aid- 


320  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF  A   CEJSTTUEY. 

ing  the  Governor  for  a  few  weeks  in  mustering  in  the  volun- 

o  o 

teers,  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  a  regiment,  and  soon  after  a 
brigadier-general  of  volunteers,  by  brevet.  During  the  autumn 
he  exhibited  much  activity  in  checking  the  advance  of  the 
Confederate  forces  in  northern  Kentucky,  and  fought  a  battle 
of  some  importance  at  Belmont,  Missouri.  In  December  he 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  District  of  Cairo,  which 
embraced  that  part  of  Kentucky  which  lies  west  of  the  Cum 
berland  River ;  and  on  the  22d  of  February,  aided  by  Com 
modore  Foote  with  his  fleet  of  gunboats,  he  commenced  the 
aggressive  movement  which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Fort 

OO  1 

Henry  on  the  Tennessee,  and  of  Fort  Donelson  on  the  Cum 
berland,  which  made  him  famous.  The  idea  of  breaking 
up,  by  a  land  and  water  movement,  the  lines  of  the  south 
western  Confederate  defences  was  not  original  with  General 
Grant.  It  had  been  suggested  by  Generals  Sherman,  Buell, 
and  others ;  but  to  Grant  is  the  honor  due  of  carrying  it  out. 

Fort  Henry  lying  upon  low  ground,  was  easily  taken,  the 
work  being  chiefly  done  by  the  gun-boats.  Donelson  wras 
stronglv  built  upon  a  bluff  a  hundred  feet  above  the  water, 
too  high  to  be  damaged  by  the  gun-boats,  the  most  of  which 
were  speedily  disabled  by  well-directed  fire  from  the  fort. 
While  the  fleet  was  engaged  in  exchanging  shots  with  the 
fort,  the  Union  land  forces  were  being  placed  in  position, 
either  for  siege  or  an  assault,  and  the  day  ended  without  any 
thing  serious  being  done.  The  next  morning  a  sortie  in  force 
was  made  by  the  Confederates,  and  with  so  much  spirit  and 
persistent  hand  fighting  that  the  Union  forces  were  driven 
back  from  their  positions  and  some  of  the  divisions  completely 
doubled  up  and  routed.  General  Grant,  who  had  gone  to  con 
fer  Avith  Commodore  Foote  on  his  gun-boat,  did  not  reach  the 
lines  until  about  one  o'clock.  He  saw  at  once  that  his  forces, 
although  worsted  in  the  desperate  fight  which  had  been  going 
on  for  hours,  were  not  beaten,  and  with  that  self-possession 
and  indomitable  will  of  which  he  was  that  day  to  give  the  first 


THE   CAPTURE   OF    DONELSON.  321 

evidence,  he  resolved  that  what  had  been  lost  should  be  recov 
ered.  Ordering  General  C.  F.  Smith,  whose  division  was  in 
better  order  than  any  other,  to  take  the  lead,  and  the  other 
commanders  to  rally  their  broken  troops  and  regain  the  posi 
tions  from  which  they  had  been  driven,  he  succeeded  after  a 
hard  struggle  in  driving  the  Confederates  within  their  lines, 
and  converting  apparent  defeat  into  victory.  Up  to  the  time 
that  General  Grant  arrived,  the  advantages  were  so  decidedly 
on  the  side  of  the  Confederates,  that  a  great  victory  was 
reported  to  their  Western  headquarters.  The  day  closed  with 
despondency  on  the  part  of  the  Confederates,  and  triumphant 
feelings  on  the  part  of  the  Union  forces,  notwithstanding  the 
losses  they  had  sustained. 

In  no  other  instance  in  his  military  career  were  the  self- 
possession  and  the  resolution  of  General  Grant  so  clearly  dis 
played  as  in  this,  the  first  great  battle  in  the  West.  Most  gen 
erals  would  have  been  content  with  saving  the  army,  after  the 
severe  blows  which  it  had  received  in  the  morning,  instead  of 
attempting  to  rally  it  and  lead  it  to  victory.  Although  the 
Confederates  had  captured  six  pieces  of  artillery,  several 
thousand  small  arms,  and  a  large  number  of  prisoners,  their 
generals  were  so  disheartened  by  their  reverses  after  they  had, 
as  they  thought,  achieved  a  splendid  victory,  that  early  in  the 
night  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  fort  could  not  be 
successfully  defended,  and  that  it  should  be  surrendered  the 
next  day  on  the  best  terms  that  could  be  obtained.  During 
the  night  two  of  the  Confederate  generals,  Floyd  and  Pillow, 
with  part  of  their  commands,  left  the  fort  and  succeeded  in 
making  their  escape  by  steamboats  up  the  river.  The  next 
morning  General  Buckner,  who  was  left  in  command  of  the 
fort,  sent  a  letter  to  General  Grant  containing  a  proposition 
for  the  appointment  of  a  commission  to  agree  upon  the  terms 
of  capitulation,  and  for  an  armistice  until  noon ;  to  which 
Grant  replied  :  "  No  terms  except  an  unconditional  and  imme 
diate  surrender  can  be  accepted.  I  propose  to  move  immecli- 

21 


322     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ately  upon  your  works."  This  at  once  settled  the  question. 
The  fort  was  surrendered,  with  its  ample  stores  and  munitions, 
and  its  garrison  of  some  fifteen  thousand  able-bodied  men, 
besides  the  wounded.  It  was  the  first  decided  victory  that 
had  crowned  the  Union  arms,  and  it  was  hailed  with  the 
utmost  joy  by  all  the  loyal  men  of  the  country.  Upon  the 
receipt  of  the  news,  the  President  appointed  Grant  a  major- 
general  of  volunteers,  and  the  Senate  -promptly  confirmed  the 
appointment.  The  same  honor  was  conferred  a  little  later, 
upon  four  of  the  division  commanders  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  fight.  It  was  thought  by  General  Ilalleck, 
and  many  others,  that  the  first  honors  were  due  to  General  C. 
F.  Smith  for  the  manner  in  which  he  turned  the  tide  of  battle 
and  carried  the  enemy's  outworks.  The  conduct  of  General 
Smith  was  indeed  admirable,  but  he  acted  under  Grant's  com 
mand,  and  it  was  Grant's  coolness  and  pluck  that  inspired  the 
Union  forces  w^ith  the  determination  to  recover  the  ground 
they  had  lost.  All  the  generals  merited  the  honors  that  were 
conferred  upon  them,  but  to  Grant  was  the  highest  honor  due. 
ISTot  only  did  he  gain  renown  by  the  manner  in  which  the  lost 
battle  was  won,  but  by  the  tone  of  his  letter  to  General  Buck- 
ner.  It  was  the  kind  of  talk  which  the  loyal  people  desired 
to  hear.  For  a  long  time  he  was  called  in  the  West  "  Uncon 
ditional  Surrender  Grant." 

Some  months  passed  before  General  Grant  added  to  the 
reputation  he  had  gained  by  the  capture  of  Fort  Donelson. 
For  a  while  he  seemed  to  be  intoxicated  by  his  success,  and  in 
danger  of  being  ruined  by  a  long-existing  habit  which  could 
not  easily  be  overcome.  General  Ilalleck,  who  had  been 
assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Mississippi, 
did,  perhaps,  injustice  to  him  in  the  following  dispatch,  which 
he  sent  to  General  McClellan,  who  was  then  commander-in- 
chief  of  all  the  Departments  : 

"I  have  had  no  communication  with  General  Grant  for 
more  than  a  week.  He  left  his  command  without  my  author- 


SHILOH.  323 

ity,  and  went  to  Nashville.  His  army  seems  to  be  as  much 
demoralized  by  the  victory  of  Fort  Donelson  as  was  that  of  the 
Potomac  by  the  defeat  of  Bull  Eun.  It  is  hard  to  censure  a 
successful  general  immediately  after  a  victory,  but  I  think  he 

O  *>'  v    ' 

richly  deserves  it.  I  can  get  no  reports,  no  returns,  no  infor 
mation  of  any  kind  from  him.  Satisfied  with  his  victory  he 
sits  down  and  enjoys  it  without  any  regard  to  the  future.  I 
am  worn  out  and  tired-  by  this  neglect  and  inefficiency.  C.  F. 
Smith  is  almost  the  only  officer  equal  to  the  emergency." 
There  was  undoubtedly  cause  for  the  apprehension  of  his 
friends  that  Grant's  habits  might  incapacitate  him  for  any 
important  independent  command. 

It  is  enough  to  say  of  the  next  battle  in  which  Grant  was 
engaged — the  battle  of  Shiloh,  near  Pittsburg  Landing,  at 
which  a  strong  force  of  Union  troops  had  been  concentrated 
for  a  movement  upon  Corinth — that  it  would  have  resulted  in  a 
most  serious  disaster  but  for  the  opportune  arrival  of  General 
Piuell  with  his  army,  twenty  thousand  strong,  in  the  night  after 
the  first  day's  battle.  Although  the  army  under  General  Grant 
had  been  lying  at  the  Landing  for  three  weeks,  the  presence 
of  the  enemy  in  force  was  not  even  suspected,  until  at  break 
of  day  on  the  6th  of  April  it  was  manifested  by  a  spirited 
attack  upon  the  Union  camps.  For  a  movement  against  Co 
rinth,  ample  provision  was  being  made;  against  an  attack  by 
the  enemy,  none  whatever.  It  has  been  denied  that  the  Union 
forces  were  taken  by  surprise.  If  it  was  not  a  surprise,  it  was 
worse :  it  was  a  battle  on  their  part  without  preparation  or 
plan.  The  Union  forces  were  driven  from  their  positions,  a 
large  number  of  officers  and  men  were  made  prisoners  and 
nothing  but  hard  and  persistent  fighting  and  darkness  saved 
the  entire  army  from  being  captured  or  destroyed  in  the  first 
day's  battle.  On  that  day  the  contending  forces  were  about 
equal  in  numbers.  By  the  arrival  of  Buell,  the  Union  forces 
were  so  strengthened  as  to  be  able  the  next  day  to  assume  the 
offensive  and  turn  the  tide.  For  a  while  the  Confederates 


324     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

maintained  the  ground  they  had  won,  but  the  odds  were  deci 
dedly  against  them,  and  they  were  compelled  to  retreat.  To 
them  it  was  a  defeat,  for  they  had  failed  to  accomplish  their 
object — the  destruction  of  the  Union  army  ;  but  there  was  lit 
tle  exultation  on  the  part  of  the  victors,  and  there  was  no  pur 
suit.  The  killed  and  wounded  in  two  cla^ys'  battles  were 
about  ten  thousand  on  each  side.  The  Confederates  were  the 
gainers  in  prisoners. 

General  Grant  gained  no  credit  bv  the  battles  at  Shiloh. 

«/ 

A  few  days  after  they  were  fought,  General  Halleck  arrived 
at  the  Landing,  assumed  the  command  of  the  army,  and 
renewed  the  work  of  concentrating  the  Western  troops  for  the 
long  contemplated  movement  upon  Corinth.  He  soon  had 
under  his  command  a  hundred  thousand  men,  the  largest  force 
that  had  been  gathered  under  the  Union  flag;  but  the  Con 
federates  had  been  concentrating  also,  and  when  the  march 
upon  Corinth  was  commenced,  the  opposing  armies  were  about 
of  equal  strength.  In  the  reorganization  of  the  army  by  Hal 
leck,  General  Grant  was  appointed  second  in  command,  but 
no  active  duty  was  assigned  to  him ;  and  up  to  the  time  that 
Corinth  was  reached,  he  was  merely  a  looker-on.  The  expe 
riences  at  Shiloh  had  made  the  commanders  on  both  sides 
prudent.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  Halleck,  who,  cau 
tious  to  an  extreme,  was  nearly  a  month  in  reaching  Corinth, 
and  then  to  find  it  abandoned.  As  Corinth  was  the  point 
against  which  the  expedition  had  been  organized,  its  posses 
sion  seemed  to  render  the  expedition  a  success ;  but  it  had  been 
very  costly,  and  the  advantages  which  had  been  gained  by  it 
were  of  little  permanent  value.  General  Halleck  remained  at 
Corinth  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  then  went  to  Washington 
to  attend  to  his  new  duties  as  a  bureau  commander-in-chief, 
leaving  General  Grant  in  command.  Before  he  left,  however, 
he  had  so  divided  the  army  that  it  was  three  months  before 
offensive  operations  were  resumed.  During  the  autumn  and 
early  part  of  the  winter,  there  were  some  engagements  in 


THE    ATTACK    ON    VICKSBURG.  325 

which  the  Union  troops  were  the  victors,  but  as  an  offset  to 
them,  the  Confederates  had  strengthened  Yicksburg  and  were 
in  complete  control  of  the  Mississippi  from  that  point  to  the 
vicinity  of  New  Orleans.  On  the  whole,  the  year  1862,  closed 
without  decided  advantages  on  either  side. 

In  the  latter  part  of  January,  1863,  General  Grant  took 
the  personal  command  of  the  troops  on  the  river,  to  prosecute 
the  attack  upon  Yicksburg,  that  stronghold  which  could  only 
be  successfully  assailed  in  the  rear.  In  every  other  direction 
it  was  impregnable,  and  the  rear  could  not  be  reached  unless 
the  army  could  be  transferred  from  above  the  city  to  below  it. 
The  first  attempt  to  get  below  the  fortifications  which  com 
manded  the  river  for  a  long  distance,  was  by  a  canal  to  be  cut 
across  the  peninsula  opposite  the  city.  This  canal  had  been 
commenced  before  General  Grant  took  the  command.  It  did 
not  meet  his  approval,  but  he  thought  it  advisable  that  the 
work  upon  it  should  be  continued.  An  immense  amount  of 
labor  was  expended  upon  it,  but  before  it  was  completed,  it 
came  within  the  range  of  the  enemy's  guns,  and  work  upon  it 
was  discontinued.  In  the  mean  time,  and  after  this  attempt 
had  proved  to  be  abortive,  other  routes  were  experimented 
upon,  and  other  ways  were  devised  for  transferring  the  army 
to  the  river  below  the  city,  without  success.  Three  months  of 
precious  time  were  lost,  and  very  heavy  expenses  incurred,  in 
these  fruitless  experiments.  The  wit  of  the  best  engineers  had 
been  exhausted,  and  yet  here  was  the  army  in  its  camps,  and 
there,  but  a  few  miles  below,  was  the  city,  confident  of  the 
strength  of  its  position,  and  scornful  of  the  efforts  that  were 
made  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  successful  movement  against  it. 
Meanwhile  the  people  of  the  North  were  becoming  impatient, 
and  the  attempts  to  make  a  new  channel  for  the  river  by  cut 
ting  canals  through  swamps  densely  covered  with  immense 
trees,  which  had  to  be  sawed  six  feet  below  the  surface,  became 
subjects  of  ridicule.  The  experiment  was  such,  said  the  press, 
as  no  sane  man  would  have  tried.  Grant  was  sinking  the 


320  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF    A   CENTURY. 

honor  he    had  won   on   the  Tennessee    and   Cumberland   in 
ditches  on  the  Mississippi. 

General  Grant's  reputation  did  indeed  seem  to  be  trembling 
in  the  balance.  He  had  done  little  to  sustain  the  reputation 
he  had  gained  at  Donelson.  To  abandon  the  attempt  to  take 
Vicksburg,  after  such  an  expenditure  of  time  and  money,  would 
be  ruinous  to  himself  and  perilous  to  the  Union.  Anxious  and 
harassed  he  was,  but  not  despairing  or  depressed.  He  had 
undertaken  to  capture  Vicksburg  and  he  meant  to  do  it  or 
perish  in  the  attempt.  There  was  one  way,  and  but  one,  by 
which  it  could  be  accomplished — the  gun-boats  must  run  the 
gauntlet  by  passing  down  the  river  by  night,  under  the  guns 
of  the  fortifications,  and  the  army  must  reach  the  river  some 
distance  below  the  city,  by  a  long,  difficult  and  dangerous 
march  on  the  western  side  of  the  river.  The  risk  would  be 
great.  The  army  might  be  destroyed ;  the  gunboats  might  be 
sunk  ;  but  it  was  a  risk  that  he  preferred  to  incur  rather  than 
to  acknowledge  that  the  expedition  against  Vicksburg  had 
disastrously  failed.  His  star,  never  long  obscured  after  the 
commencement  of  the  war,  was  again  in  the  ascendant.  The 
gunboats,  with  supply  boats  by  their  sides,  under  the  direction 
of  Admiral  Porter,  passed  the  forts  by  night  with  trifling 
losses.  The  army  reached  the  river  below  the  city,  and  was 
carried  safely  across  it.  The  Confederates  having  most 
unwisely  divided  their  forces,  were  beaten  in  several  sharp 
engagements,  and  the  city  was  invested.  The  siege  was  com 
menced  on  the  18th  of  May,  and  the  garrison  and  city  sur 
rendered  on  the  4th  of  July,  with  27,000  troops.  The  expedi 
tion  was  managed  throughout  with  great  ability.  The  night 
before  it  was  determined  upon,  General  Grant  asked  the 
opinion  of  the  other  generals.  They  were  all  opposed  to  such 
a  movement.  The  march  through  a  country  partially  inun 
dated  would  be  an  extremely  difficult  one,  and  when  accom 
plished,  the  army  would  be  removed  from  its  base  of  supplies, 
and  where  defeat  would  be  annihilation.  He  listened  atten- 


GRANT   AT   HIS   BEST.  327 

lively  to  all  that  was  said,  and  then  simply  remarked :  "  I  am 
sorry  to  differ  with  you  gentlemen  upon  a  matter  of  so  much 
importance,  but  my  mind  is  made  up.  The  army  will  move 
to-morrow  morning."  And  it  did. 

In  this  expedition  Grant  was  at  his  best.  Sensible  of  the 
great  responsibility  that  rested  upon  him,  he  tempered  his 
daring  with  caution.  He  kept  his  forces  well  in  hand  after  he 
crossed  the  river,  and  he  outgeneraled  his  opponents  in  every 
attempt  they  made  to  prevent  his  approach  to  the  city.  It 
was  the  most  brilliant  achievement  of  the  war.  Port  Hudson 
was  abandoned  soon  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  and  the  Mis 
sissippi,  undisturbed  by  enemies  of  the  Union,  was  again  open 
to  trade,  from  its  head  to  the  Gulf.  This  great  river  had 
always  been  the  main  outlet  for  the  surplus  productions  of  the 
immense  regions  which  it  drained.  For  two  years  it  had  been 
closed,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  pecuniary  interests  of 
millions  of  loyal  men.  Its  opening  was  a  matter  of  great 
importance,  not  only  to  the  people  of  the  West,  but  to  all  the 
loyal  States.  Besides  being  a  very  great  gain  in  respect  to 
commercial  operations,  it  was,  by  separating  Arkansas,  Lou 
isiana  and  Texas  from  the  other  Confederate  States,  a  great 
gain  to  the  Government  in  a  military  point  of  view. 

The  capture  of  Vicksburg  placed  Grant  at  the  head  of  the 
Union  generals.  It  is  true  that  the  success  of  the  campaign 
in  the  rear  of  the  city  was,  in  a  measure,  owing  to  the  dissen 
sion  among  the  Confederate  commanders,  but  this  did  not 
lessen  his  merit.  It  was  by  his  persistent  energy  that  what 
seemed  to  be  almost  insuperable  difficulties  were  overcome  in 
gaining  for  his  army  a  position  that  rendered  the  capture  of  the 
city  possible.  It  was  by  his  skilful  management  of  his  troops, 
after  that  position  bad  been  secured,  that  the  grand  result 
was  accomplished.  For  his  great  services  in  this  expedition, 
he  was  made  a  major-general  in  the  regular  army,  and  fronl 
this  time  to  the  close  of  the  war,  his  name,  next  to  Lincoln's, 
was  the  most  conspicuous  and  the  most  honored  throughout 


328     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

the  loyal  States.  His  success  in  this  expedition  had  a  decided 
influence  and  bearing  upon  his  subsequent  career  and  his  self- 
estimation.  From  being  one  of  the  most  obscure  of  the  West 
Point  graduates,  he  had  become  the  most  prominent  and  dis 
tinguished,  and  the  change  had  been  so  great,  that  the  idea 
became  dominant  with  him  that  he  was  the  "  man  of  destiny," 
—that  there  was  no  difficulty  which  he  could  not  surmount, 
no  position  in  the  army  or  the  State  that  he  was  not  compe 
tent  to  fill.  Self-confidence  (a  most  excellent  quality  when 
not  accompanied  by  self-deception),  thenceforward  became 
one  of  the  most  marked  traits  in  his  character. 

Although  a  heavy  blow  was  dealt  to  the  Confederates  by 
the  capture  of  Yicksburg,  and  their  loss  of  the  control  of  the 
Mississippi,  they  were  not  disheartened.  On  the  contrary, 
their  ardor  and  resolution  seemed  to  be  increased  and  strength 
ened  by  these  reverses.  They  had  not,  in  the  West,  received 
a  really  crushing  blow,  nor  did  they  receive  that  blow  until  it 
was  administered  by  General  Thomas  at  Nashville,  in  1864. 
Their  best  efforts  were  put  forth,  and  their  best  fighting  was 
done,  in  the  latter  part  of  1803.  They  achieved  a  decided  vic 
tory  at  Chickamauga,  and  reduced  the  Union  forces  to  dire 
distress  by  shutting  them  up  in  Chattanooga.  Horses  and 
mules  in  large  numbers  were  starved  to  death,  and  the  soldiers 
were  on  the  verge  of  sharing  the  same  fate  before  they  were 
relieved.  The  battle  of  Chickamauga  was  one  of  the  bloodiest 
and  most  desperately  fought  battles  of  the  war.  In  this  battle 
the  Union  forces  were  not  greatly  outnumbered  ;  but  by  the 
misunderstanding  of  dispatches  of  the  commander,  General 
Rosecrans,  and  the  failure  of  some  of  the  officers  promptly 
to  obey  the  orders  which  they  received,  there  was  a  lack  of 
concentration  which  enabled  the  Confederates  to  overwhelm 
and  put  to  rout  all  of  the  divisions  except  that  under  General 
•Thomas,  which  repelled  the  combined  attacks  that  were 
made  upon  it  and  saved  the  entire  army  from  being 
utterly  routed.  Soon  after  this  disaster  the  Departments  of 


WILLIAM   S.    ROSECRANS.  329 

the  Ohio,  the  Cumberland,  and  the  Tennessee  were  consoli 
dated  into  the  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi,  and  placed 
under  the  command  of  General  Grant.  By  the  same  order 
that  created  this  division,  General  William  S.  Rosecrans  was 
relieved  of  his  command. 

There  was  much  dissatisfaction  in  the  army,  and  a  strong 
feeling  of  regret,  not  to  say  indignation,  throughout  the  West 
at  the  retirement  of  General  Rosecrans.  He  had  never  been  a 
favorite  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  he  was  greatly  dis 
liked  by  General  Grant.  In  temperament,  in  manners,  in 
habits,  in  the  general  make-up  of  their  characters,  the  two 
generals  were  totally  unlike.  The  very  qualities  that  made 
Rosecrans  popular  with  his  soldiers,  and  with  the  Western 
people,  made  him  obnoxious  to  Grant.  It  was  quite  impos 
sible  for  them,  therefore,  to  work  harmonious!}7  together,  and 
Rosecrans  was  forced  into  retirement.  As  has  been  said, 
it  provoked  a  good  deal  of  feeling  in  the  West  adverse  to 
the  War  Department  and  to  General  Grant.  Rosecrans  was 
a  Democrat,  the  brother  of  a  Catholic  bishop,  and  his  entrance 
into  the  army  at  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  as  volunteer 
aid  to  General  McClellan,  was  considered  a  great  gain  to  the 
Union  cause.  He  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  a  graduate  of  West 
Point,  and  for  three  years  was  professor  of  engineering  and 
natural  philosophy  in  that  institution.  Pie  resigned  his  com 
mission  in  the  army  in  1854  to  become  a  civil  engineer  at  Cin 
cinnati,  and  was  engaged  in  that  and  other  employment  in 
that  city  until  he  joined  General  McClellan  in  West  Virginia. 
A  harder  worker  or  more  zealous  patriot  never  fought  under 
the  Union  flag.  His  merits  were  acknowledged  by  preferment 
until  he  was  subjected  to  the  superior  influence  of  General 
Grant.  His  military  ability  was  proven  by  the  masterly 
manner  in  which  he  conducted  the  campaigns  when  he  was  in 
command  of  the  Department  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Cum 
berland,  and  especially  was  it  proven  in  the  battles  of  Stone 
River  and  at  Corinth.  He  was  beaten  at  Chickamauga,  but 


330     MEX  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

there  was  no  mismanagement  in  that  battle  on  his  part.  The 
only  mistake  which  he  made  was  in  giving  credence  to  the 
reports  which  were  brought  to  him  that  the  whole  army  was 
defeated  and  in  full  retreat  to  Chattanooga,  while  Thomas 
was  holding  his  position  against  the  tremendous  assault  to 
which  he  was  exposed.  If,  instead  of  going  to  Chattanooga 
to  make  preparations  for  the  reception  of  his  retreating  and 
exhausted  troops,  he  had  gone  to  the  front,  it  is  possible  that 
he  might  have  gathered  together  the  broken  forces  as  Grant 
did  at  Donelson,  and  won  a  victory  instead  of  suffering  a 
defeat.  He  deserved  a  victory,  for  no  man  ever  worked 
harder  to  obtain  it.  The  fates  were  against  him,  and  the  man 
ner  in  which  they  sometimes  deal  with  the  fortunes  of  men  is 
shown  in  the  simple  fact  that  the  nomination  of  this  gallant 
and  most  accomplished  soldier  for  the  humble  office  of  Regis 
ter  of  the  Treasury  in  1S86  hung  fire  for  weeks  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States. 

After  the  sorely  needed  supplies  had  been  obtained  by  the 
execution  of  plans  that  were  devised  by  General  Rosecrans,  the 
army,  now  under  General  Grant,  had  the  desired  opportunity 
of  redeeming  the  credit  which  had  been  somewhat  impaired  by 
the  disaster  at  Chickamauga,  The  battles  at  Chattanooga, 
Lookout  Mountain,  and  Missionary  Ridge,  which  soon  fol 
lowed,  were  in  fact  one  continuous  struggle,  in  which  at  differ 
ent  points  different  divisions  of  the  army  were  engaged,  and 
in  which  there  seemed  to  be  a  rivalry,  not  only  between  the 
commanders  of  the  divisions  but  among  the  soldiers,  for  the 
highest  honors.  The  Confederates,  strong  in  numbers  and 
strongly  intrenched  on  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary 
Ridge,  were  routed  at  every  point  with  immense  losses  in  war 
materials  and  men.  In  no  other  battles  was  superior  bravery 
displayed  or  so  much  independent  fighting  done  by  the  Union 
soldiers.  The  plans  of  General  Grant  were  frequently  changed 
during  the  fight,  and  in  some  instances  they  were  disregarded 
both  by  officers  and  men.  It  was  in  this  battle  that  Hooker 


THE  BATTLE  ABOVE  THE  CLOUDS.  331 

won  renown  in  his  attack  upon  the  enemy  in  their  position 
above  the  clouds.  It  was  in  this  battle  that  the  soldiers  under 
Thomas  and  Sheridan,  without  orders,  or  in  disregard  of  them, 
exposed  to  a  terrific  lire,  with  shouts  for  the  Union,  overcom- 
inf  all  obstructions,  climbed  the  mountain  sides  and  drove  the 

O 

Confederates  from  their  intrenchments.  To  General  Grant, 
commander-in-chief,  was  lasting  honor  due  for  the  splendid 
success  of  the  Union  army  in  these  sanguinary  battles;  but  no 
less  honor  was  due  to  the  division  and  brigade  commanders, 
whose  conduct  in  the  attack  upon  the  enemy's  strongholds 
was  superb.  ISTor  were  the  soldiers  less  meritorious  than  their 
commanders.  Never  was  the  spirit  and  daring  of  the  com 
mon  soldiers  so  grandly  displayed.  "  By  whose  orders  are 
those  troops  going  up  the  hill  ? "  asked  General  Grant  of  Gen 
eral  Thomas.  "By  their  own,  I  suppose,"  was  the  reply. 
"  It's  all  right,  if  it  turns  out  right ;  but  some  one  will  suffer  if 
it  don't,"  was  Grant's  rejoinder.  It  did  turn  out  right.  These 
gallant  fellows,  full  of  ardor,  and  brave  to  a  fault,  had  assumed 
authority,  and  were  not  long  in  capturing  the  positions  which 
were  only  to  be  threatened.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say 
that  their  conduct  was  not  investigated,  nor  were  they  cen 
sured  for  disobedience. 

The  year  1863,  on  the  whole,  closed  favorably  to  the  Gov 
ernment.  There  had  been  some  serious  backsets  in  the  East, 
but  compensation  for  these  was  found  in  the  very  important 
victory  at  Gettysburg.  In  the  West,  Vicksburg  had  been 
taken  ;  the  Mississippi  had  been  opened  ;  the  disaster  at 
Chickamauga  had  been  obliterated  by  the  rout  of  the  enemy 
at  Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge. 

In  March,  1864,  Congress  came  to  the  wise  conclusion, 
which  ought  to  have  been  reached  long  before,  that  the  war 
should  no  longer  be  carried  on  by  division  commanders, 
under  instructions  from  the  War  Department,  and  passed 
an  act  reviving  the  grade  of  lieutenant-general.  For  this 
position,  Grant  was  nominated,  and  the  nomination  was 


332     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

promptly  confirmed.  By  this  act,  all  the  national  armies, 
numbering  nearly  a  million  of  men,  were  placed  under  the 
direction  of  a  single  head.  The  appointment  of  General 
Grant  to  this  high  position  was  approved  by  the  country. 
At  that  time  he  was  regarded  by  the  people,  as  well  as  by 
Congress,  as  being  the  most  efficient  and  meritorious  of  the 
generals.  If  doubts  existed  in  regard  to  his  generalship,  of 
his  fighting  qualities  there  could  be  no  dispute.  He  had 
won  renown  at  Donelson  and  Yicksburg,  and  had  never  suf 
fered  a  defeat.  He  was  not  popular  with  the  army ;  he  had 
no  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the  soldiers ;  but  with  the 
people  he  was  a  favorite.  The  high  qualities  of  Sherman  and 
Thomas  were  not  then  fully  appreciated.  Sherman  had  not 
captured  Atlanta,  nor  made  his  march  to  the  sea.  Thomas 
had  not  crushed  the  Confederates  at  Nashville.  There  was, 
therefore,  no  competition  with  General  Grant  for  the  honor 
which  was  conferred  upon  him. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  the  Union  armies  were  in  their  very 
best  condition.  The  generals  in  active  service  were,  with  very 
rare  exceptions,  men  of  marked  ability,  whose  valor  and  skill 
had  been  tested  on  the  battle-field,  and  the  larger  part  of  the 
soldiers  had  become  veterans.  The  Union  forces  were  also 
better  provided  for,  and  were  numerically  stronger  than  ever 
before.  The  duties  of  the  lieutenant-general,  outside  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  of  which  he  took  personal  command, 
were  consequently  altogether  less  trying  than  they  would 
have  been  if  the  appointment  had  been  made  when  McClellan 
was  relieved  of  his  command  as  general-in-chief.  In  fact, 
after  a  few  general  and  special  orders  were  given  to  division 
commanders,  at  various  points,  the  lieutenant-general  was 
able  to  give,  and  did  give,  his  entire  attention  to  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac. 

It  is  not  the  opinion  of  men  who  have  made  military  sci 
ence  a  study,  nor  will  it,  I  think,  appear  by  impartial  history, 
that  General  Grant  added  to  his  military  renown  by  his  cam- 


THE   WILDERNESS   CAMPAIGN.  333 

paign  against  Richmond.  With  the  best  disciplined  and  most 
thoroughly  equipped  army  that  was  ever  organized  in  this 
country,  or  any  other ;  with  ample  reinforcements  at  his  com 
mand  ;  supported  by  the  favor  and  confidence  of  the  Govern 
ment,  he  commenced  his  celebrated  march  by  the  direct  route 
to  Richmond.  His  aim  was,  by  celerity  of  movement,  to  place 
his  army  between  that  of  the  Confederates  and  the  Confederate 
capital.  This  accomplished,  he  would  have  little  difficulty  in 
destroying  the  former  and  capturing  the  latter.  This  aim  was 
thwarted  b^y  General  Lee,  the  Confederate  commander,  who 
met  him  in  front  and  compelled  him  to  fight  at  great  disad 
vantage  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  in  which  no  generalship 
could  be  displayed,  and  which  will  long  be  remembered  for  the 
bravery  of  the  troops  on  both  sides,  and  the  losses  that  were 
sustained.  A  United  States  Senator  who  visited  the  Wilder 
ness  at  the  close  of  the  two  days'  battle,  said  to  me  on  his 
return  to  Washington :  ''  If  that  scene  could  have  been  pre 
sented  to  me  before  the  war  had  been  commenced,  anxious  as 
I  was  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  I  should  have  said, 
'  The  cost  is  too  great ;  erring  sisters,  go  in  peace.' ':  Failing  in 
this  attempt  to  intercept  the  Confederates,  General  Grant 
attempted  to  accomplish  his  object  by  a  left  flank  movement 
to  Spottsylvania,  but  here  was  Lee  again,  and  behind  formi 
dable  intrenchments,  from  which  he  was  only  forced  after  many 
days  of  continuous  and  what  has  been  described  as  simply 
murderous  fighting. 

It  was  after  this  battle  that  General  Grant  sent  his  cele 
brated  dispatch  to  Washington,  that  he  intended  "  to  fight  it 
out  on  that  line,  if  it  took  all  summer."  The  loyal  people,  in 
the  pursuit  of  business  or  pleasure,  were  delighted  with  this 
dispatch.  It  reminded  them  of  the  reply  to  Buckner  at  Fort 
Donelson.  "  That's  Grant,"  said  one  who  read  it  in  my  hear 
ing.  "That's  Grant;  that  means  business."  Business  it  was, 
but  unfortunately  it  was  business  (glorious  as  it  seemed  to 
those  who  read  the  accounts  of  it  in  the  newspapers)  in  which 


334  MEN   AND    MEASURES    OF  HALF   A   CENTURY. 

the  Union  forces  were  the  heaviest  losers  ;  business  which  sent 
sorrow  into  many  thousands  of  loyal  households,  which  filled 
cemeteries  with  the  slain,  and  hospitals  with  the  wounded. 
More,  and  if  possible  still  harder,  work  "was  to  be  done  on  that 
line,  but  the  object  of  the  campaign — the  capture  of  Richmond 
—was  not  thus  to  be  accomplished.  Grant  was  met  again  at 
North  Anna,  and  again  at  Cold  Harbor,  from  which  he  was 
repelled  with  tremendous  slaughter.  Cold  Harbor  was  a  very 
important  point  in  General  Grant's  plan  of  the  campaign,  but 
the  fortifications  having  proved  impregnable,  he  did  what 
McClellan  had  been  compelled  to  do — he  transferred  his  army 
to  the  James.  He  did  not,  however,  stop  there.  Undisturbed 
by  orders  from  Washington,  and  with  ample  resources  at  his 
command,  he  crossed  the  river  and  immediately  put  in  opera 
tion  the  instructions  he  had  given  to  General  Butler,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  army  upon  the  James,  to  capture  and  hold 
Petersburg,  and  then  to  advance  against  Richmond.  The  for 
tifications  around  these  two  cities  proved,  however,  to  be  too 
strong  to  be  carried,  and  a  siege  was  commenced  which  con 
tinued  for  nearly  a  year,  and  was  terminated  by  an  assault 
upon  the  attenuated  line  of  Confederate  intrenchments,  which 
was  memorable  for  the  courage  with  which  it  was  made  and 
the  resolution  with  which  it  was  resisted.  The  line  of  defence 
having  been  broken,  Richmond,  the  long-coveted  prize,  was 
abandoned  by  the  Confederate  forces,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
again  floated,  as  of  yore,  over  the  capital.  A  few  days  after, 
the  war  was  practically  ended  by  the  surrender  of  General  Lee 
and  the  remnant  of  his  army  at  Appomattox  Court  House. 

In  the  battles  in  the  Wilderness,  at  Spottsylvania,  North 
Anna,  and  Cold  Harbor,  and  about  Richmond  and  Petersburg, 
the  losses  on  the  Confederate  side  were  heavy  ;  on  the  Union 
side  enormous,  amounting  in  killed  and  wounded  to  nearly  sixty 
thousand  men — a  larger  number  than  Lee  had  under  his  com 
mand  at  the  opening  of  the  campaign.  In  these  battles  General 
Grant  displayed  the  qualities  for  which  he  was  distinguished 


THE   ENOKMOUS   UNION   LOSSES.  335 

in  the  West — confidence  in  himself  and  in  his  army,  indiffer 
ence  to  danger,  and  indifference  also  to  his  own  losses  while 
he  was  striking  telling  blows  against  the  enemy.  On  the 
other  side,  it  must  be  admitted  that  General  Lee  proved  him 
self  to  be  a  very  able  and  vigilant  commander.  He  antici 
pated  every  movement  of  his  opponent,  and  was  prepared  to 
meet  him  at  every  point  which  he  intended  to  occupy  on  his 
march,  and  finally  compelled  him  to  leave  the  direct  route  and 
to  commence  what  was  practically  a  new  campaign,  by  the 
siege  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg.  In  all  the  battles  that 
were  fought  from  the  first  day  in  the  Wilderness  to  the  day 
on  which  they  were  shattered  in  their  desperate  assaults  upon 
the  intrenchments  at  Cold  Harbor,  the  Union  forces  outnum 
bered  the  Confederates  in  the  ratio  of  two  to  one.  In  the 
operations  on  the  south  of  Richmond  and  about  Petersburg, 
the  comparative  difference  was  still  greater.  But  the  lack  of 
numbers  by  the  Confederates  was  made  up  by  their  being  on 
the  defensive,  and  in  possession  of  very  formidable  intrench 
ments,  which  could  not  be  successfully  attacked  except  by 
superior  numbers  and  at  a  heavy  loss  by  the  assailants.  The 
Union  soldiers  never  fought  better  than  they  did  in  the  despe 
rate  battles  which  have  been  named,  and  the  most  of  them 
had  proved  their  valor  on  many  well-contested  fields.  They 
fought  under  the  eye  of  a  chief  whom  they  knew  only  by  his 
fame,  but  under  the  eyes,  also,  of  division  commanders  whom 
they  knew  personally  and  trusted,  and  whose  good  opinion  they 
were  resolved  not  to  lose.  They  behaved  splendidly  through 
out  the  campaign.  They  were  patient,  obedient,  brave.  There 
was  no  hardship  that  they  did  not  willingly  submit  to,  no 
danger  that  they  shrank  from.  They  were  the  glorious  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  which,  although  rarely  victorious,  wras  never 
excelled  in  discipline  and  steadfast  valor  by  any  army  in  the 
world. 

The  adoption  of  the  direct  route  to  Richmond  was,  to  say 
the  least  that  can  be  said  about  it,  unfortunate,  as  the  entire 


336     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

army  could  have  been  transferred  from  the  Potomac  to  the 
James,  to  which  it  turned  after  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor, 
without  the  loss  of  a  man,  and  with  the  saving  of  millions  of 
dollars  to  the  national  treasury.  It  would  not  have  been 
adopted  but  for  the  prevailing  opinion  that  the  safety  of 
Washington  depended  upon  the  army  being  kept  between  it 
and  Richmond.  Some  consolation,  however,  for  the  national 
losses  was  found  in  the  losses  of  the  enemy,  which,  although 
they  did  not  probably  exceed  twenty  thousand,  told  most 
heavily  upon  their  declining  strength. 

Some  of  General  Grant's  eulogists  have  expressed  the  opin 
ion  that  as  his  mode  of  conducting  the  war  was  to  exhaust  the 
resources  of  the  Confederates  as  rapidly  as  was  possible,  without 
the  slightest  regard  to  the  losses  that  he  might  sustain  himself, 
to  attack  them  at  all  times,  and  at  all  vulnerable  points ;  that 
as  he  could  afford  to  sacrifice  two  men  to  their  one,  and  that  as 
constant  fighting  must,  sooner  or  later,  bring  the  war  to  a 
close,  he  was  satisfied  with  the  results  of  these  sanguinary  bat 
tles.  That  this  method  of  carrying  on  the  war  against  the  Con 
federacy  was  approved  by  General  Grant  is  well  known,  but 
that  he  was  satisfied  with  the  result  of  his  direct  movement 
toward  Richmond  is,  I  think,  questionable.  Nevertheless  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  Union  was  not  saved  by  the  vic 
tories  of  its  armies,  but  by  the  exhaustion  of  its  enemies. 
Extensive  as  was  the  field  of  military  operations,  and  costly  as 
these  operations  were,  the  loyal  States  were  not  apparently 
weakened  by  them.  The  demand  which  the  war  created  for 
everything  needed  for  the  support  of  large  armies,  and  the 
construction  of  fleets  for  naval  operations  upon  the  coast  and 
rivers,  gave  great  activity  to  various  brandies  of  mechanical 
and  manufacturing  industry.  Money,  or  what  practically  rep 
resented  it,  was  abundant.  The  credit  of  the  Government 
improved  as  the  war  progressed,  and  was  higher  in  1864  than  it 
was  in  1861.  A  stranger  in  travelling  through  the  loyal  States 
in  1864  would  have  seen  little  to  indicate  that  they  were 


EXHAUSTION    OF   THE   CONFEDERACY.  337 

engaged  in  a  civil  war  of  unexampled  magnitude.  He  would 
have  seen  men  pursuing  their  usual  avocations  with  ardor ;  the 
farmer  and  mechanic  busily  employed ;  new  factories  being 
built ;  the  marts  crowded  with  buyers  and  sellers ;  and  upon 
inquiry  he  would  have  learned  that  the  foreign  and  domestic 
trade,  and  manufacturing  in  its  various  branches,  had'  never 
been  so  prosperous,  and  that  labor  had  never  been  so  well 
rewarded.  In  the  disloyal  States  the  reverse  of  all  this  was 
exhibited.  They  had  been,  from  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  substantially  shut  up  from  the  outside  world.  The  bel 
ligerent  rights  which  had  been  accorded  to  them  had  not  been 
followed  by  the  expected  acknowledgment  of  independence 
by  Great  Britain,  or  by  any  other  European  power,  and  were 
therefore  of  little  value  to  them.  Trade  with  Europe  could 
only  be  carried  on  by  running  the  blockade,  in  which  the  risk 
was  greater  than  the  profits.  Their  cotton,  in  exchange  for 
which  they  expected  to  receive  all  necessary  supplies,  remained 
either  upon  the  plantations  or  was  stored  in  the  warehouses 
of  the  cities.  Manufacturing  they  had  not  encouraged  before 
the  war,  and  although  their  necessities  developed  skill  in 
this  direction  that  was  a  surprise  even  to  themselves,  they 
were  unable  to  do  more  than  to  supply  their  armies  with 
munitions  and  clothing.  The  credit  of  the  government  which 
they  had  undertaken  to  establish  was  at  the  lowest  ebb,  at 
home  as  well  as  abroad.  Its  bonds,  which  in  1861  were  sold 
in  Great  Britain  at  nearly  par,  and  were  then  regarded  by 
European  capitalists  with  more  favor  than  the  bonds  of  the 
United  States,  were  no  longer  salable  at  any  price.  Its 
notes,  which  were  kept  in  circulation  by  being  made  a  legal 
tender,  and  the  absence  of  any  other  circulating  medium,  had 
become  even  in  trade  well  nigh  valueless.  What  little  real 
money  there  was  in  the  Confederacy  was  either  hidden  or  in 
the  Confederate  treasury.  The  exhausting  process,  which 
commenced  soon  after  the  war  begun,  had  gone  steadily  on 
until  there  was  little  left  in  the  disloyal  States  except  the 
22 


338     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

buildings  and  the  naked  lands.  Everything  had  been  yielded 
by  the  people  to  the  support  of  their  armies,  with  unexampled 
self-sacrificing  devotion. 

In  connection  with  this  brief  reference  to  General  Grant's 
campaign  against  Richmond,  is  not  this  question  a  pertinent  and 
fair  one  ?  If  General  Grant,  with  an  army  of  vastly  superior 
strength  to  that  of  the  enemy,  could  gain  no  decided  advantages 
in  the  bloody  battles  of  the  AVilderness,  Spottsylvania,  North 
Anna,  and  Cold  Harbor,  but  on  the  whole  was  so  worsted  by 
them  as  to  be  compelled  to  transfer  his  army  to  the  James,  and 
was  nevertheless  honored,  and  justly  honored,  by  his  country 
men,  ought  General  McClellan,  who  met  the  same  enemy  when 
in  its  greatest  vigor  and  strength,  and  inflicted  upon  him  severer 
blows  than  he  received,  in  as  well  contested  battles  as  those 
that  have  been  named,  and  was  compelled  by  the  superior 
force  of  the  enemy  to  fall  back  upon  the  same  river,  to  have 
been  retired  in  disgrace  ?  Was  General  Grant's  generalship 
so  superior  to  that  of  General  McClellan's  ;  did  he  handle  his 
troops  with  so  much  greater  skill ;  was  he  so  much  more 
prompt  in  action  and  sound  in  judgment,  as  to  make  it  clear 
that  while  he  received  no  honor  that  he  had  not  fairly  won, 
McClellan  was  treated  with  no  injustice? 

I  have  said  that  it  was  not  the  opinion  of  competent  judges 
that  General  Grant  added  to  his  military  reputation  by  his 
overland  campaign  against  Richmond.  Notwithstanding  the 
great  superiority  of  his  forces  in  numbers,  he  gained  no  de 
cided  advantages  over  General  Lee.  His  aim  was  to  intercept 
and  destroy  the  Confederate  army,  and  then  to  capture  the 
Confederate  capital.  He  succeeded  in  neither.  That  army 
was  not  destroyed.  On  the  contrary,  it  dealt  harder  blows 
than  it  received,  and  Richmond  was  only  taken  after  a  pro 
tracted  siege.  The  conduct  of  General  Grant  at  the  surrender 
of  General  Lee,  and  of  the  remnant  of  his  once  formidable 
army,  was  that  of  a  true  soldier  and  a  gentleman,  but  there 
was  nothing  in  what  occurred  at  Appomattox  which  added  to 


MILITARY   SIDE   OF   THE   WAR.  339 

his  renown  as  a  commander.  The  fall  of  Richmond,  which 
was  hastened  by  the  approach  of  Sherman  from  the  south, 
was,  from  the  commencement  of  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  only 
a  question  of  time,  and  what  was  left  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  was  doomed  as  soon  as  it  was  forced  from  the  for 
tifications  which  it  had  held  with  so  much  courage  and 
tenacity. 

In  this  great  civil  war,  there  was  little  opportunity  for  the 
exhibition  of  military  science  as  this  science  is  understood  in 
Europe.  '  By  some  European  generals  it  was  spoken  of  con 
temptuously  as  a  bushwhacking  war,  in  which  fighting  qual 
ities  only  were  displayed,  and  a  great  deal  of  blood  was  unnec 
essarily  shed.  It  is  true  that  few  of  the  battles  in  this  war  were 
fought  where  the  talents  of  a  Yon  Moltke  would  have  shown  to 
advantage,  but  there  were  battles  in  which  very  great  ability  was 
displayed— not  in  handling  large  armies  upon  open  plains,  but 
in  adapting  warfare  to  the  topography  and  conditions  of  the 
countrv.  Von  Moltke's  science  might  have  been  at  fault  in 

»/  o 

the  Peninsula  and  in  the  Wilderness.  Grant  might  not  have 
obtained  celebrity  at  Sadowa,  or  Sedan.  But  if,  as  European 
critics  have  asserted,  there  was  very  little  science  exhibited  in 
our  civil  Avar,  there  never  was  a  war  in  which  the  best  qualities 
of  soldiers — courage,  patience,  endurance — were  so  conspic 
uous  on  both  sides.  And  here  it  is  fitting  for  me  to  say,  that  if 
General  Grant  has  not  received  more  credit  than  was  his  due, 
other  generals  have  received  less  than  was  due  to  them.  A 
stranger  to  the  history  of  the  war,  in  reading  the  newspapers 
that  were  published  at  the  time  of  General  Grant's  death, 
and  in  noticing  the  respect  that  is  paid  to  his  memory,  would 
think  that  to  him  more  than  to  all  the  other  generals  was  the 
success  of  the  Union  armies  to  be  attributed,  and  he  would  be 
surprised  if  he  were  informed,  that  in  the  great  and  most 
important  battles  of  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  Atlanta  and  Xash- 
ville  he  had  no  part ;  that  his  real  and  lasting  honors  were 
won  before  he  was  appointed  to  the  chief  command  and  led 


340  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF  HALF   A   CENTURY. 

the  Army  of  the  Potomac  against  Richmond  ;  that  besides 
those  whom  I  especially  speak  of,  there  were  officers  in  the 
Union  service  who,  like  A.  II.  Terry,  and  Meade,  and  Scho- 
field,  and  Canby,  and  Howard,  and  Slocum,  were  scarcely  his 
inferiors  in  military  capacity.  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I 
say  that  Napoleon,  who  startled  the  world  by  his  brilliant 
achievements,  had  not  under  his  command,  when  nearly  all 
Europe  was  at  his  feet,  lieutenants  of  higher  accomplishments 
as  soldiers  than  C.  F.  Smith,  and  McPherson,  and  Reynolds, 
and  Sedgwick,  and  "W.  II.  Wallace,  and  Couch,  and  Curtis,  and 
Custer,  and  Humphreys,  and  Gilmore,  and  Sickles,  and  Kearny, 
and  Reno,  and  Ly tie,  and  Doubleday,  and  Cox,  and  Lewis 
Wallace,  and  Stoneman,  and  Hayes,  and  Gresham,  and  Rick- 
etts,  and  Granger,  and  Wood,  and  Palmer,  and  Steadman,  and 
Geary,  and  Mitchel,  and  Wa-ds worth  and  Sedgwick,  and 
Sumner,  and  scores  of  others,  of  the  same  stamp,  whose 
names  are  irnperishably  inscribed  on  the  rolls  of  their  country's 
honor.  Many  of  them  sealed  with  their  blood  their  devotion 
to  the  Union.  Their  names  will  always  be  especially  dear  to 
their  countrymen.  Not  to  Grant  alone,  but  to  such  as  these, 
and  to  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men — officers  and  privates, 
wrho  imperilled  their  lives  in  its  support — is  the  nation  indebted 
for  its  integrity.  On  the  other  side,  also,  were  men  who,  in 
an  unholy  cause,  displayed  ability,  heroism,  devotion,  zeal  which 
commanded  universal  admiration.  It  was  a  long,  expensive  and 
bloody  war,  but  its  compensations  have  been  greater  than  was 
its  cost.  It  destroyed  slavery  and  thus  uprooted  all  causes  of 
difference  between  the  sections.  It  cemented  the  Union.  It 
made  the  States  "now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable." 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  country,  and  for  his  own  repu 
tation,  that  General  Grant  was  not  in  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  in  1861.  Having  no  aptitude  for  the  organi 
zation  of  troops,  he  would  have  spent  little  time  in  making  it 
what  it  became  under  McClellan,  the  best  disciplined,  and  for 
its  numbers,  the  most  efficient  army  of  the  age.  If  he  had 


GKANT   AS   A   GENERAL.  341 

been  in  McClellan's  place  in  the  autumn  of  1861,  the  reports 
would  not  have  been,  as  they  were  for  months,  that  "all 
was  quiet  on  the  Potomac,"  but  probably  a  report  of  a  much 
less  satisfactory  character,  that  a  great  battle  had  been  fought 
and  a  worse  disaster  than  that  of  Bull  Run  had  befallen  the 
Union  forces.  It  was  also  fortunate  for  the  country  and 
General  Grant  that  he  did  not  take  the  command  of  that 
army,  highly  disciplined  as  it  had  become,  until  he  had  secured 
by  his  services  in  the  West  the  confidence  of  all  loyal  people 
and  of  the  Government, — a  confidence  so  strong  as  not  to  be 
shaken  by  the  unsuccess  of  his  great  battles  in  Virginia  and  of 
the  assaults  upon  the  fortifications  of  Petersburg  and  Rich 
mond,  nor  even  by  the  delays  of  a  protracted  siege.  Fortunate 
indeed  was  it  for  General  Grant  that  he  was  not  then  a  candi 
date  for  the  Presidency,  and  was  supposed  to  have  no  political 
aspirations. 

There  have  been  and  there  will  continue  to  be  great  differ 
ences  of  opinions  in  regard  to  General  Grant's  character  and 
merits  as  a  soldier.  While  many,  and  perhaps  a  majority, 
regard  him  as  having  been  a  great  military  genius,  whose 
name  will  go  down  in  history  along  with  the  names  of  the 
most  renowned  soldiers  of  modern  times,  others  regard  him 
as  having  been  destitute  of  genius,  entitled  to  no  credit  except 
for  stubborn  courage  and  unyielding  resolution ;  as  one  whose 
rise  was  a  chapter  of  accidents  and  luck.  Neither  of  these 
opinions  is  correct.  It  was  not  by  accident  or  luck  that 
Donelson  was  taken;  that  the  Mississippi  was  opened  by  the 
capture  of  Vicksburg,  and  that  the  misfortunes  at  Chicka- 
mauga  were  offset  by  the  achievements  at  Lookout  Mountain 
and  Missionary  Ridge.  It  was  not  by  luck  that  he  rose  from 
the  captaincy  of  a  company  in  1861  to  the  command  of  all 
the  armies  of  the  United  States  in  186-i.  Accidents  were  in 
his  favor,  and  lucky  he  certainly  was;  but  if  he  had  not  pos 
sessed  military  qualities  of  a  high  order,  accidents  would  not 
have  been  favorable  to  him,  and  good  luck  would  not  have 


342     MEN  AXD  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

been  so  constantly  his  attendant.  His  rise  was  rapid,  and  with 
but  a  single  interruption.  For  some  weeks  after  the  capture  of 
Donelson  he  seemed  to  have  reached  the  height  of  his  military 
career,  but  after  his  success  at  Yicksburg  his  star  was  again 
in  the  ascendant,  and  it  continued  to  shine  with  undiminished 
if  not  increasing  brightness  to  the  end  of  the  war. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  did  not 
accomplish  enough,  nor  give  evidence  of  possessing  all  the 
qualities  which  were  necessary  to  entitle  him  to  a  place  by 
the  side  of  the  great  captains  of  the  world.  If  he  had  capac 
ity  for  planning  campaigns,  he  lacked  the  opportunities  for 
exhibiting  it.  Before  the  expedition  in  which  Fort  Henry  and 
Fort  Donelson  were  captured  and  the  line  of  Confederate 
fortifications  was  broken,  was  commenced,  the  importance  of 
such  an  expedition  had  been  freely  discussed.  The  successful 
movement  against  Vicksburg  was  not  undertaken  until  all 
other  plans  for  reaching  the  city  had  failed.  The  battles  on 
Lookout  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge  were  not  fought 
according  to  any  well-digested  plan. 

But  while  General  Grant's  abilities  were  not  in  the  line  of 
organizing  troops  or  planning  campaigns,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  in  all  the  battles  of  which  he  had  the  direction,  he  dis 
played  indomitable  resolution,  perfect  self-possession,  dauntless 
courage.  His  conduct  at  Donelson  and  before  Yicksburg, 
where  he  obtained  his  highest  renown,  was  such  as  to  entitle 
him  to  very  high  rank  as  a  soldier ;  but  in  neither  of  these 
fields  was  there,  or  could  there  be,  a  display  of  such  ability  as 
would  sustain  the  claims  of  his  extreme  eulogists.  His  quali 
ties  were  such  as  circumstances  required.  There  was  no  senti 
ment  in  his  mode  of  warfare.  He  was  never  seen  on  the 
field  after  a  battle  had  been  fought,  or  in  the  hospitals,  and  he 
never  counted  the  cost  of  a  victory.  His  business  was  to  fight. 
To  persistently  push  the  enemy  at  all  points,  and  at  all  sacri 
fices,  was,  in  his  opinion,  the  surest  as  well  as  speediest  way  of 
terminating  the  war.  It  was,  he  thought,  his  duty  to  cripple 


HOW    HISTORY    WILL    RANK    HIM.  343 

him  in  every  possible  way.  lie  was  opposed,  therefore,  for  a 
time,  to  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  knowing  as  he  did,  that 
owing  to  the  difference  of  treatment  in  Northern  and  South 
ern  prisons,  he  would  be  receiving  men  who  were  not  fit  for 
duty  in  exchange  for  those  that  were,  and  that  the  Govern 
ment  which  he  served  had  far  less  need  of  men  than  its 
enemies.  This  was  considered  by  many  as  inhuman  ;  but  war 
is  a  business  in  which  humanity  is  not  often  brought  into  lively 
exercise.  lie  understood  both  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
of  a  commander,  and  while  insensible  to  fear,  he  never  exposed 
himself  unnecessarily  to  danger.  He  lacked  personal  magnet 
ism.  His  presence  among  his  troops  was  never  hailed  with 
enthusiastic  shouts  as  was  McClellan's.  He  never  breasted  the 
storm  of  battle,  as  did  Thomas  at  Chickamauga.  He  never  per 
sonally  rallied  fleeing  troops,  and  led  them  back  to  victory,  as 
Sheridan  did  at  Cedar  Creek.  His  soldiers  were  not  strongly 
attached  to  him,  but  they  had  confidence  in  his  generalship, 
and  they  admired  him  for  his  coolness  and  courage.  As  I 
have  said,  he  did  not  accomplish  enough,  nor  exhibit  all  the 
qualities  which  were  required  to  entitle  him  to  a  place  by  the 
side  of  the  great  captains  of  the  world.  What  his  rank  is  to 
be  hereafter,  among  the  distinguished  generals  of  his  own 
country,  cannot  be  safely  predicted.  It  certainly  will  be 
among  the  highest.  His  name  may  not  be  second  to  any  in 
the  long  line  of  American  soldiers  ;  but  that  it  will  be  regarded 
by  impartial  historians  as  entitled  to  the  pre-eminence  that  is 
now  so  generally  accorded  to  it,  is  at  least  doubtful.  He 
gained  nothing  in  reputation  after  he  became  lieutenant- 
general.  Sherman  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  General  C. 
F.  Smith  had  lived,  Grant  might  not  have  been  heard  of  after 
Donelson.  He  would  not  have  been  wide  of  the  mark  if  he 
had  said  that  but  for  Donelson  and  Yicksburg,  Grant  would 
not  have  been  known  in  history.  But  Smith  did  not  live  to 
throw  Grant  into  the  background,  and  Donelson  and  Vicks- 
burg  are  fixed  facts  in  the  annals  of  the  war. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Condition  of  the  two  great  Parties  in  1868 — Horatio  Seymour  Nominated  for 
the  Presidency,  and  General  Frank  P.  Blair  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  by 
the  Democrats — General  Grant  and  Schuyler  Colfax  nominated  by  the 
Republicans,  and  Elected — General  Grant  nominated  on  account  of  his 
Military  Reputation — His  Nominations  for  the  Heads  of  the  Departments 
— Elihu  B.  Washburne — George  &  Boutwcll — Jacob  D.  Cox — John  A.  G. 
Creswell — E.  Rockwood  Hoar — Alexander  T.  Stewart — Adolph  E.  Borie — 
Hamilton  Fish — George  M.  Robeson — William  W.  Belknap — Morrison  R. 
Waite — Negotiation  for  the  Annexation  of  St.  Domingo — Mr.  Sumner's 
Opposition  to  it — Mr.  MotleyRecalled  from  the  Court  of  St.  James — Change 
in  the  Office  of  Attorney-General — General  Grant  as  a  Civilian — Manner 
in  which  he  Used  his  Authority — Appointment  of  his  Son  to  be  a  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  ;  and  a  Distinguished  Clergyman  to  be  Examiner  of  Con 
sular  Offices — His  Retirement  from  the  Presidency — Desire  of  a  Nom 
ination  for  a  Third  Term — He  Visits  Europe — Is  everywhere  received 
with  Great  Respect — Efforts  to  Nominate  him  for  a  Third  Term  on  his 
Return  from  Europe — His  Unfortunate  Connection  with  a  Banking 
Firm — His  Fatal  Illness  and  Death. 

IN  1868,  as  the  two  great  political  parties  were  supposed  to 
be  of  about  equal  strength,  the  leading  politicians  on  both 
sides  were  on  the  alert  for  a  candidate  who  possessed  the 
greatest  personal  popularity ;  availability,  rather  than  qualifi 
cation  or  merit,  being  the  question  to  be  considered.  John 
son's  administration  had  been  conducted  in  the  interests  of 
neither  party.  It  had  for  two  years  been  bitterly  opposed  by 
the  Republican  party,  although  the  Cabinet  was  composed  of 
men  who  were  either  Republicans,  or  Democrats  who  had  not 
been  in  sympathy  with  their  party  during  the  war.  It  had 
not  been  cordially  supported  by  the  Democrats.  Johnson 
having  been  elected  Vice-President  on  the  Republican  ticket 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  an  ardent  supporter  of  his  administra 
tion,  could  not  be  regarded  as  a  representative  of  Democratic 
principles.  lie  had  made  few  changes  in  the  public  offices, 


THE   CAMPAIGN    OF   1868.  345 

and  a  large  majority  of  the  office-holders  were  earnest  and 
active  Republicans.  The  Democrats  had  stood  by  him  in  his 
impeachment.  They  had  approved  of  his  Reconstruction 
policy,  but  they  knew  that  he  had  lost  by  his  intemperate 
harangues  the  public  respect  which  he  commanded  when  he 
was  elected  Yice-President.  It  was  quite  certain,  long  before 
the  convention  was  held  that  he  would  not  be  their  candi 
date.  Singularly  enough,  the  eyes  of  both  parties  turned  to 
General  Grant  as  the  most  available  candidate,  and  the 
opinion  was  current  in  Washington  that  if  he  was  not  nomi 
nated  by  the  Republicans,  he  would  be  by  the  Democrats. 
Before  the  war,  General  Grant  (as  was  true  of  most  of  the 
West  Point  graduates  who  had  been  appointed  under  Demo 
cratic  administrations)  was  a  Democrat,  and  it  was  known  that 
his  relatives  and  some  of  his  most  intimate  associates  in  the 
army  were  members  of  the  Democratic  party.  It  was  there 
fore  thought  that  he  might  be  willing  to  accept  a  Democratic 
nomination.  This  question,  however,  was  not  tested.  Before 
he  was  approached  by  any  of  the  leading  men  of  that  party, 
it  became  known  that  he  was  in  sympathy  with  the  Republi 
cans,  and  that  he  would  accept  a  Republican  nomination  if  it 
were  tendered  to  him.  The  Democrats  were,  therefore,  com 
pelled  to  select  another  man  for  their  standard  bearer.  The 
choice  fell  upon  Horatio  Seymour,  one  of  the  ablest  and 
purest  of  statesmen.  General  Frank  P.  Blair  was  their  nominee 
for  Vice-President.  The  ticket  was  apparently  a  strong  one. 
Seymour  had  been  Governor  of  New  York,  and  although  he 
was  full  of  anxious  misgivings  during  the  war,  he  had  not 
been  backward  in  filling  the  requisitions  which  were  made 
upon  him  for  troops.  He  was  sound,  according  to  Democratic 
standards,  upon  all  economical  and  financial  questions ;  a  man 
of  varied  and  extensive  knowledge,  of  an  unblemished  reputa 
tion,  of  great  personal  popularity,  of  superior  executive  abilit}^ 
Ko  man  in  the  country  was  better  equipped  for  the  Presidency 
than  Horatio  Seymour.  General  Blair  was  a  man  of  vigorous 


346  MEX   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A    CENTURY. 

intellect  and  of  great  force  of  character.  He  had  done  good 
service  in  the  war,  and  although  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest 
order,  he  had  been  hostile  to  slavery  when  the  pro-slavery 
sentiment  was  strong  throughout  the  Union.  The  ticket  was 
strong,  but  it  was  greatly  weakened  by  the  speeches  that  were 
made  at  the  convention.  General  Grant  and  Schuyler  Colfax, 
who  had  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  Speaker  of  the  House,  the 
nominees  of  the  Republican  party,  were  triumphantly  elected. 
It  is  not  claimed  by  many  of  his  real  friends  that  General 
Grant  sustained,  in  the  Presidency,  the  reputation  that  he  had 
won  in  the  field.  Before  his  election  he  had  lacked  both  the 
opportunities  and  the  disposition  to  acquaint  himself  with  the 
subjects  upon  which  he  was  called  to  act  in  the  discharge  of 
his  executive  duties.  He  had  not  only  kept  himself  aloof  from 
politics,  but  he  had  paid  no  attention  to  the  subjects  in  which 
the  country  was  especially  interested.  He  had  never  held  a 
public  position  in  civil  life.  He  was  selected  by  the  Republi 
cans  as  their  candidate,  as  General  Taylor  had  been  by  the 
Whigs,  on  account  of  his  military  reputation ;  and  yet  such 
was  his  self-confidence,  that  he  had  no  more  distrust  of  his 
ability  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
nation  than  of  his  ability  to  command  a  regiment.  "  Have 
you  read,"  asked  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Republican  Senators 
the  next  morning  after  the  inauguration,  "  have  you  read 
General  Grant's  inaugural?"  "I  have,"  I  replied.  "The 
responsibilities  of  the  position  I  feel,  but  I  accept  them  without 
fear."  The  senator  repeated  this  passage  from  the  inaugural 
slowly,  and  then  said  :  "  You  know,  McCulloch,  that  I  am  not 
a  religious  man,  but  if  I  had  been  elected  President,  I  should 
not  have  accepted  the  responsibilities  without  fear.  I  should 
on  my  knees  have  asked  God  to  help  me."  He  then,  in  lan 
guage  which  I  will  not  repeat,  expressed  something  more  than 
his' regret  that  one  who  had  no  comprehension  of  the  duties 
he  was  to  perform  should  accept  the  responsibilities  thereof 
with  such  self  confidence. 


GRAFT'S  CABINET.  347 

That  General  Grant  was  self- deceived  in  regard  to  his 
fitness  for  the  Presidency  was  soon  manifest  to  others,  but 
there  was  at  no  time  any  indication  that  he  was  conscious  of  it 
himself.  His  self-reliance,  and  his  indisposition  to  take  advice 
or  ask  for  information,  were  indicated  in  the  selection  of  his 
Cabinet.  For  some  days  before  the  inauguration  there  was  a 
good  deal  of  speculation  and  talk  about  the  appointments,  and 
no  little  solicitude  was  felt  by  the  friends  of  those  whose  names 
had  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  different  depart 
ments.  I  must  have  seen  a  score  of  what  were  called  "  slates," 
prepared  by  as  many  different  persons,  who  were  considered 
good  political  guessers,  on  which  were  the  names  of  those  who 
were  considered  most  likely  to  become  the  advisers  of  the 
President,  and  a  good  deal  of  surprise  and  disappointment  was 
manifested  when  the  names  of  the  appointees  were  given  to 
the  public.  For  the  War  Department,  no  appointment  was 
made.  It  was  therefore  expected  that  General  Schofield,  who 
held  the  place  under  an  appointment  of  President  Johnson, 
would  be  retained.  To  the  other  six  Departments  men  were 
appointed  not  one  of  whose  names  was  upon  any  slate ;  nor,  if 
I  recollect  correctly,  had  the  name  of  either  been  suggested 
for  a  place  in  the  Cabinet  by  any  leading  journal.  If,  in 
making  the  selection,  the  President  consulted  anybody,  the 
secret  was  well  kept.  He  could  not  have  consulted  any  one 
who  was  familiar  with  the  act  establishing  the  Treasury 
Department,  or  he  would  not  have  selected  a  merchant  for  its 
Secretary.  To  five  of  the  appointments,  unexpected  as  they 
were,  no  objection  could  be  made,  except  upon  the  ground  that 
they  had  not  been  especially  active  in  the  canvass  preceding 
the  election. 

Elihu  B.  Washburne,  who  was  nominated  for  Secretary  of 
State,  was  well  known  as  an  able  and  industrious  man  who  had 
faithfully  represented  the  Galena  district  of  Illinois  in  Con 
gress  for  eight  consecutive  terms,  and  been  re-elected  for  the 
ninth.  He  had  the  honor  of  being  the  discoverer  of  Grant 


348     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

when  educated  officers  were  in  demand  for  the  army  in  the 
spring  of  1SP>1.  Alexander  T.  Stewart,  the  great  merchant  of 
New  York,  a  man  of  extraordinary  business  capacity,  was 
nominated  for  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a  position  for  which 
he  had  high  personal  qualifications,  but  for  which  he  was 
disqualified  by  the  act  referred  to,  which  provided  that  no 
person  should  be  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  who  was 
engaged  in  commercial  trade.  Mr.  Stewart  was  very  desirous 
of  adding  to  his  reputation  as  a  merchant  the  reputation  of  a 
great  public  financier,  which  he  was  confident  he  might  acquire 
as  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department ;  and  he,  as  well  as 
the  President,  was  greatly  disappointed  by  his  legal  disqualifi 
cation,  which  was  not  discovered  (strange  as  it  seemed),  until 
after  his  name  had  been  sent  to  the  Senate.  So  strong  was 
the  desire  of  the  President  that  Mr.  Stewart  should  be  his 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  that  he  asked  Congress  to  pass  a 
joint  resolution  to  exempt  his  appointment  from  the  operation 
of  the  act.  The  request  did  not  meet  with  a  favorable  recep 
tion.  Mr.  Stewart's  name  was  withdrawn,  and  George  S. 

o 

Boutwell,  a  lawyer  of  good  standing  and  an  active  and  skilful 
politician,  was  nominated  in  his  stead. 

Mr.  Boutwell,  on  entering  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  greatly  helped  by  the 
knowledge  of  the  business  of  the  Department  which  he  had 
gained  when  he  was  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue.  His 
appointment  was  not  favorably  regarded  by  business  men,  as 
he  was  known  to  be  a  strong  partisan,  and  was  supposed  to  be 
narrow  in  his  financial  views,  and  limited  in  financial  knowl 
edge  ;  but  his  administration  of  the  Treasury  was  conservative 
and  judicious,  creditable  to  himself  and  to  the  Administration. 
Meeting  him  on  the  street  the  day  after  he  entered  upon  the 
discharge  of  his  duties,  I  said  to  him  that  he  would  find  the 
Department  in  good  running  order;  that  all  the  real  hard 
work  necessitated  by  the  war  had  been  completed,  and  that  his 
duties  would  be  much  less  trying  and  laborious  than  mine  had 


GRANT'S  CABINET.  349 

been.  Always  a  partisan,  Mr.  Boutwell  was  bitterly  hostile  to 
President  Johnson.  He  had  been  one  of  the  managers  in  the 
Impeachment  trial,  and  so  strong  in  his  opinion  were  the 
evidences  of  Johnson's  utter  unworthiness  and  guilt,  that  he 
had  little  charity  for  those  who  did  not  regard  them  as  he  did. 
To  him  it  seemed  hardly  possible  that  the  confidential  advisers 
of  him  whom  he  had  denounced  as  the  great  criminal  could  be 
absolutely  free  from  taint.  He  did  not,  I  think,  expect  to  find 
that  the  management  of  the  Department  had  been  corrupt, 
but  he  did  expect  to  discover  irregularities  in  the  manner  in 
which  its  business  had  been  conducted,  and  that  there  had  been 
gross  favoritism  in  appointments.  He  was,  I  am  sure  (being, 
in  spite  of  his  prejudices,  a  high-toned  gentleman),  gratified,  as 
he  ascertained  from  day  to  day  that  the  Department  had  been 
honestly  administered ;  that  its  business  had  been  conducted, 
not  in  the  interest  of  the  President  or  of  his  friends,  but  with 
regard  to  public  interests  only.  There  were,  of  course,  among 
the  clerks  some  who  were  known  to  be  the  personal  and  politi 
cal  friends  of  Mr.  Johnson.  To  them  leave  of  absence  was 
promptly  given.  It  was  said  that  committees  were  appointed 
to  ascertain  the  politics  of  all  the  employes,  and  to  report  for 
dismissal  those  who  had  the  smell  of  Johnson  upon  their 
garments.  I  am  sure  that  no  such  committees  were  appointed 
by  Mr.  Boutwell. 

Jacob  D.  Cox,  of  Ohio,  who  had  served  with  honor  in  the 
army  and  been  Governor  of  his  State,  a  man  of  very  vigorous 
intellect  and  unsullied  reputation,  was  nominated  for  Secretary 
of  the  Interior ;  John  A.  J.  Ores  well,  of  Maryland,  a  stanch 
unwavering  supporter  of  the  Government  during  the  war,  and 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  men  of  the  day,  for  Post 
master  General ;  E.  Rock  wood  Hoar,  a  true  scion  of  excellent 
stock,  who  had  been  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa 
chusetts,  and  who  held  high  rank  as  a  lawyer  in  a  State  where 
high  rank  at  the  bar  can  be  obtained  only  by  men  of  superior 
abilities,  for  Attorney  General. 


350     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  astonishment  at  the  nomination 
of  Adolph  E.  Borie  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  When  it 
was  understood  that  his  name  had  been  sent  to  the  Senate,  the 
inquiry  everywhere  was,  "  AVho  is  Adolph  E.  Borie  ? "  Outside 
of  Philadelphia,  where  he  lived,  he  was  unknosvn,  and  there  he 
was  known  only  as  a  citizen  of  wealth  and  good  social  stand- 
ino1.  It  was  reported  that  onlv  one  senator  had  ever  heard 

o  I  «•• 

of  him  until  his  name  was  read  by  the  secretary.  To  him 
self  his  appointment  was  as  great  a  surprise  as  it  was  to  the 
public.  The  place  was  undesired  by  him.  He  had  no  aptitude 
for  the  business  he  was  called  upon  to  perform,  and  he  was 
glad  to  retire  from  public  life  after  an  experience,  if  such  it 
could  be  called,  of  three  months. 

There  had  been  some  surprise  at  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Washburne  as  Secretary  of  State.  It  was  not  a  position  for 
which  he  was  especially  fitted  by  education  or  taste,  but  no 
one  was  prepared  to  hear  of  his  resignation  before  he  had  tried 
it.  There  was,  therefore,  much  wonder  when,  within  a  week 
after  his  appointment,  he  was  nominated  and  confirmed  as 
Minister  to  France.  No  explanation  was  given  of  this  sudden 
change,  but  the  supposition  was  that  there  had  been  an  under 
standing  between  him  and  the  President  that  he  should  hold 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  until  he  could  find  a  place  that 
suited  him  better,  and  no  longer.  Whether  such  was  the  case 
or  not,  the  change,  resulting  as  it  did  in  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  Hamilton  Fish  to  the  State  Department,  was  fortunate  for 
the  administration  and  the  country.  Mr.  Washburne,  in  his 
mission  to  France,  proved  to  be  the  right  man  in  the  right 
place.  He  performed  his  regular  duties  acceptably  to  his  own 
government,  and  to  the  changing  governments  of  France.  He 
remained  at  his  post  in  Paris  during  the  siege,  and  so  used  the 
authority  and  influence  of  his  position  as  to  command  the 
respect  and  good  will  of  both  the  French  and  Germans.  Nor 
did  he  desert  his  post,  as  did  the  representatives  of  other 
nations,  during  the  reign  of  the  Commune.  His  behavior 


HAMILTON   FISH.  351 

throughout  that  entire  period  of  suffering  and  disorder  in 
Paris  was  such  as  to  secure  for  him  a  high  reputation  for 
courage  and  for  fidelity  to  his  trust. 

Hamilton  Fish,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Washburne  as  Secretary 
of  State,  and  whose  appointment  was  as  little  expected  as  that 
of  any  other  member  of  the  Cabinet  except  that  of  Mr.  Borie, 
had  held  many  important  positions.  He  had  been  a  Repre 
sentative  in  Congress,  Governor  of  New  York,  and  United 
States  Senator;  but  he  had  retired  from  public  life,  a"nd 
although  but  sixty  years  old,  was  supposed  to  have  lost  both 
the  disposition  and  ability  for  active  public  service.  The  last 
time  that  he  had  manifested  any  interest  in  politics  was  in 
1860,  when  he  took  part  in  the  efforts  that  were  made  to 
secure  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Seward  for  the  Presidency.  He 
was  remembered  as  having  been  a  warm  personal  and  political 
friend  of  Henry  Clay,  but  so  long  ago  that  he  seemed  to 
belong  to  a  past  generation — to  be  politically  superannuated. 
His  appointment  was  therefore  a  surprise  even  to  his  friends. 
It  was,  however,  one  of  the  best  appointments  that  the  Presi 
dent  ever  made.  During  his  retirement  he  had  not  been  idle. 
He  had  been  both  student  and  observer,  and  he  brought  to  the 
discharge  of  his  new  and  important  duties  large  experience, 
superior  culture,  and  thorough  knowledge  of  the  relations  of 
the  United  States  with  foreign  nations.  Difficult  questions 
were  to  be  discussed  and  settled  with  Great  Britain,  growing 
out  of  her  unfriendly  conduct  during  the  war.  These  questions 
were  discussed  by  him  with  marked  ability,  and  settled  in  a 
manner  highly  satisfactory  to  the  United  States.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  that  in  no  period  of  our  history  was  the  business 
of  the  State  Department  conducted  with  more  ability  and  dis 
cretion  than  while  Mr.  Fish  was  at  its  head.  His  appointment 
was,  in  all  respects,  a  fortunate  one.  His  high  character  for 
probity  and  honor  was  one  of  the  redeeming  features  of  both 
of  General  Grant's  administrations.  His  great  wealth  enabled 
him  to  dispense  hospitalities  with  a  liberal  hand.  His  unostenta- 


352  MEN    AND    MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   (XENTURY. 

tious  but  polished  manner,  and  the  grace,  the  intelligence  and 
varied  accomplishments  of  his  wife,  did  much  to  elevate  the 
tone  of  Washington  society. 

General  Schofield's  relations  with  the  President  were,  I 
believe,  friendly,  but  he  had  been  a  member  of  Johnson's 
Cabinet,  and  he  was  soon  retired  from  the  War  Department. 
His  successor,  General  Rawlins,  had  no  especial  qualifications 
for  the  place,  and  had  done  nothing  to  merit  the  appointment. 
He  was  in  bad  health  when  appointed.  He  died  in  the  follow 
ing  autumn,  and  was  succeeded  by  General  Belknap,  who  held, 
when  I  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  an  office  in  the  internal 
revenue  service,  and  had  the  reputation  of  being  an  able  man 
and  of  good  business  qualifications.  Mr.  Borie,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  was  succeeded  by  George  M.  Robeson,  of  New  Jersey, 
a  fine  speaker  and  an  able  lawyer.  Mr.  Robeson  was  the  best 
abused  member  of  the  Cabinet,  but  the  abuse  to  which  he  was 
subjected  neither  soured  his  temper  nor  injured  his  digestion. 
He  was  a  hard  worker,  without  being  apt  in  business.  If, 
instead  of  being  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  had  been  Attorney 
General,  he  would  have  won  an  enviable  national  reputation. 
Talented,  genial,  warm-hearted,  he  was  and  is  a  favorite  wher 
ever  he  is  known. 

On  the  whole  the  President  was  fortunate  in  these  appoint 
ments,  and  yet  among  the  thoughtful  and  independent  men  of 
his  party,  there  was  an  impression,  not,  as  was  remarked  by 
an  unfriendly  critic,  when  his  second  term  was  drawing  to  a 
close,  that  "  his  good  appointments  had  been  by  accident ;  his 
bad  ones  by  design,"  but  that  personal  considerations,  rather 
than  a  regard  for  the  public  interest,  had  to  a  large  extent 
governed  his  action. 

Perhaps  no  appointment  made  by  President  Grant  seemed 
to  be  more  unmerited  and  injudicious  than  that  of  Morrison 
R.  Waite,  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  to  be  Chief-Justice  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  upon  the  death  of  Chief- Justice  Chase. 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  there  were  scores  of  lawyers  in 


THE   SANTO   DOMINGO   SCHEME.  3f)3 

Ohio  who  would  have  been  regarded  by  the  members  of  his  pro 
fession  as  being  as  well,  if  not  better,  qualified  for  that  exalted 
position  as  Mr.  Waite.  He  was  little  known  outside  of  his 
State.  He  had  not  been  ranked  among  the  great  lawyers  of 
the  country.  lie  had  never,  I  think,  appeared  before  the  court 
over  which  he  was  to  preside.  So  little  was  he  knoAvn  outside 
of  Ohio,  that  his  appointment  to  be  one  of  the  representa 
tives  of  the  United  States  at  the  Geneva  arbitration  was  not 
regarded  with  public  favor.  I  had  known  Mr.  Waite  for  many 
years,  and  had  formed  a  very  high  opinion  of  him,  as  being 
a  man  of  a  high  order  of  talent,  and  a  safe  and  able  counsel 
lor  in  his  profession ;  but  I  was  not  prepared  to  hear  of  his 
appointment  to  a  position  which  had  never  before  been  held 
by  one  who  had  not  acquired  a  high  national  reputation  as 
a  lawyer.  President  Grant  was  wiser  in  this  instance  than 
lie  knew.  Possessing  a  clear,  discriminating,  well  balanced 
intellect  and  great  working  power,  with  a  character  for 
uprightness  and  independence  which  commands  the  highest 
respect,  it  is  but  simple  justice  to  say  of  Mr.  Waite,  that  he  is 
most  honorably  filling  the  chair  that  has  been  occupied  by 
such  men  as  Marshall,  and  Taney,  and  Chase.  No  higher  com 
pliment  can  be  paid  to  him. 

One  of  President  Grant's  first  and  most  important  acts — 
one  that  astonished  even  his  most  intimate  friends — was  a  nego 
tiation  for  the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo.  The  execution  by 
him  of  a  treaty  for  the  acquisition  of  a  foreign  country,  a  part 
of  one  of  the  West  India  Islands,  populated  and  governed  by 
negroes,  and,  as  it  was  understood  at  the  time,  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  was  one  of  the  strangest, 
not  to  sav  most  astounding  things  that  had  ever  occurred  in  the 

*•  O  CD 

history  of  the  country.  It  illustrated  his  ideas  of  the  authority 
of  a  President,  and  indicated  his  ignorance  or  disregard  of  the 
sensitiveness  of  thoughtful  people  in  regard  to  the  acquisition 
of  foreign  territory.  The  purchase  of  Louisiana  and  the 
annexation  of  Texas  were  looked  upon  with  apprehension  by 
23 


354     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

men  of  liberal  views,  as  well  as  by  strict  constructionists  ;  but 
these  were  coterminous  territories,  the  possession  of  which 
might  be  considered  a  geographical  necessity,  and  nothing  was 
done  in  either  case,  without  free  discussion.  The  same  was  true 
in  regard  to  the  territorial  acquisitions  which  were  the  result 
of  the  war  with  Mexico.  But  here  was  an  island  in  no  way 
needful  to  the  United  States,  one-half  of  which,  with  a  large 
population  of  the  African  race,  was  to  become  a  part  of  the 
public  domain  with  full  privileges  of  citizenship  to  its  inhabit 
ants,  by  a  treaty  which  was  not  negotiated  in  the  usual  way 
by  the  head  of  the  State  Department,  but  by  the  President, 
through  the  agency  of  one  of  his  private  secretaries. 

Of  the  impropriety  of  the  proceeding  the  President  seemed 
to  be  unconscious.  To  secure  its  ratification,  he  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  Senate  all  his  personal  and  official  influence, 
but  strong  as  that  influence  was,  it  was  not  strong  enough  to 
overcome  the  repugnance  of  senators  to  a  treaty  highly  objec 
tionable  in  itself,  and  equally  objectionable  by  the  manner 
in  which  it  had  been  negotiated.  Charles  Sumner  was  Chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  and  he  presented 
his  views  in  opposition  to  the  treaty  with  such  caustic 
severity,  that  he  incurred  the  lasting  hostility  of  the  President, 
by  which  not  only  he  but  some  of  his  friends  were  made  to 
suffer.  The  President  was  unable  to  obtain  a  ratification  of  so 
unsavory  a  treaty,  but  he  had  influence  enough  with  senators 
(to  their  discredit  be  it  said)  to  bring  about  the  displacement 
of  Mr.  Sumner  from  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  of 
which  he  had  been  for  years  the  honored  and  efficient  head. 
Mr.  Motley,  the  distinguished  historian,  was  recalled  from  the 
Court  of  St.  James,  not  because  he  was  not  honorably  and 
efficiently  performing  his  duties,  but  because  he  had  been 
appointed  on  Mr.  Sumner's  recommendation,  and  was  known 
to  be  his  intimate  friend.  The  change  in  the  office  of  Attor 
ney-General,  by  which  Mr.  Hoar  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Aker- 
man,  was  attributed  to  the  influence  of  persons  who  had  favored 


SCANDALS    OF   THE   ADMINISTRATION.  355 

the  treaty.  In  opposing  the  ratification  of  this  treaty,  Mr. 
Sumner,  as  was  his  wont,  spoke  with  great  plainness.  He  had, 
as  he  thought,  good  reason  for  the  opinion  that  in  its  negotia 
tion  the  President  was  under  the  influence  of  a  company  of 
speculators,  who  were  to  be  large  gainers  by  the  project. 
In  denouncing  the  project,  he  denounced  the  projectors  in 
language  which  seemed  to  reflect  upon  the  President.  In  this 
he  might  have  been  wrong,  but  it  did  not  justify  the  action  of 
the  Senate  in  desposing  him  from  the  place  which  he  had  so 
long  honored.  In  the  estimation  of  the  masses,  the  President 
did  not,  perhaps,  suffer  by  the  negotiation  of  this  treaty  and 
his  persistent  efforts  to  secure  its  ratification,  nor  by  his  treat 
ment  of  Mr.  Sumner  and  his  friends  ;  these  were  matters  in 
which  the  great  public  felt  but  little  interest ;  but  he  did  suffer 
in  the  estimation  of  many  of  the  best  men  of  his  party,  who 
from  that  time  regarded  him  with  distrust. 

I  have  said  that  General  Grant  was  no  student  before  the 
war,  and  that  he  lacked  the  time  and  the  disposition  to  study 
afterwards ;  but  he  was  a  close  observer,  and  his  natural  abili 
ties  were  expanded  by  his  intercourse  with  able  men,  and  in 
the  performance  of  executive  duties.  His  mind  was  clear  and, 
when  not  influenced  by  his  prejudices'  or  controlled  by  his 
egotism,  well  balanced.  In  approving  or  disapproving  acts 
of  Congress,  he  was  rarely  wrong.  His  messages  and  other 
official  papers  were  sensible  and  to  the  point,  but,  as  is  too 
frequently  the  case  with  men  of  high  position,  his  acts  were 
less  praiseworthy  than  his  words.  He  was  upon  paper  an 
earnest  advocate  of  reform  in  the  civil  service,  but  there  was 
no  improvement  in  the  service  during  his  administrations.  On 
the  contrary,  there  was  a  degree  of  official  corruption  that  had 
never  before  been  witnessed.  Scandals  of  a  disgraceful  char 
acter,  which  implicated  many  who  had  official  relations,  and 
some  who  had  close  personal  relations  with  himself,  were  rife. 
Although  a  man  of  great  independence  of  character,  there 
were  very  few  whose  ears  were  more  open  to  flattery.  Both 


356     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

as  general  and  President  he  was  kind  and  indulgent  to  those 
who  looked  up  to  him  as  a  superior ;  he  was  the  reverse  to 
those  who  did  not.  He  did  not  object  to  independence  in 
others,  if  that  independence  did  not  conflict  with  his  own  ; 
when  it  did,  there  was  coldness  on  his  part,  if  not  dislike. 
His  success  as  a  soldier  produced  an  entire  change  in  his  char 
acter.  From  the  time  that  he  resigned  his  captaincy,  in  1854, 
to  his  appointment  as  colonel,  in  1861,  he  was  seemingly  con 
tent  with  his  low  social  position  and  humble  employments. 
If  he  had  any  desire  to  rise,  if  ambition  had  any  hold  upon 
him,  there  was  no  indication  of  it.  Upon  his  re-entrance  into 
the  army,  a  new  life  was  opened  within  as  well  as  before  him. 
While  his  demeanor  was  little  changed,  while  he  was  still 
unassuming  in  manners,  he  became  as  if  by  a  new  birth,  self- 
confident,  self-reliant,  daring,  ambitious,  and  these  qualities 
became  so  dominant,  that  after  accepting  the  highest  position 
in  the  army  as  a  right,  he  entered  upon  the  performance  of 
the  duties  of  the  highest  civil  position  without  fear  ;  and,  in 
disregard  of  the  example  of  Washington  and  his  other  pre 
decessors,  was  more  than  willing  that  his  name  should  be 
used  for  a  third  term.  He  had  the  disposition,  and  only 
needed  the  opportunity,  to  become  a  dictator. 

The  old  adage  that  the  boy  is   father  of  the  man,  was 

O  v 

contradicted  in  the  case  of  General  Grant.  Nothing  in  his 
character  as  a  boy  indicated  the  inherent  power  which  was 
developed  when  he  became  a  military  leader,  and  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  nation.  He  had  no  influence  over  his  class 
mates  at  West  Point,  or  over  his  brother  officers  in  Mexico. 
After  his  return  from  Mexico,  he  lacked  self-control ;  and  yet 
at  the  head  of  the  army,  and  in  the  Presidency,  he  displayed 
the  characteristics  of  a  man  born  to  command.  None  of  his 
predecessors,  not  even  General  Jackson,  used  the  authority  of 
his  position  so  independently — none  certainly  exhibited  such 
indifference  to  established  usages  and  public  opinion,  as  he  did. 
No  other  President  would  have  been  so  wanting  in  delicacy 


ABUSE    OF    PATRONAGE.  357 

as  to  appoint  his  son,  who  had  performed  no  important  duties, 
to  a  lieutenant-colonelcy,  over  the  heads  of  meritorious  offi 
cers  ;  or  so  indifferent  to  public  sentiment  and  the  require 
ments  of  the  service  as  to  send  his  eulogist,  a  distinguished 
clergyman,  without  business  experience,  at  a  salary  of  five 
thousand  dollars  a  }rear  and  his  expenses,  to  examine  consular 
offices  in  Europe.  In  regard  to  many  important  appoint 
ments,  he  did  not  consult  even  his  Cabinet.  When  first 
elected,  he  was  regarded,  not  only  by  his  party,  but  by  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  who  were  not  partisans,  with  as  much 
favor  as  any  of  his  predecessors  had  been,  except  Washington. 
If  the  Press  properly  represented  the  public  sentiment,  none 
retired  from  the  Presidency  with  less  of  public  respect.  The 
reasons  were  obvious.  Until  he  was  elected,  he  had  not  been 
connected  with  public  affairs.  He  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
questions  upon  which  parties  were  divided.  He  was  no  poli 
tician.  His  judgment  of  character  was  faulty  in  the  extreme. 
He  was  simply  a  soldier,  a  man  of  good  common  sense  and 
honest  intentions,  self-reliant,  but  wanting  in  sagacity.  Open 
to  flattery,  and  impatient  to  criticism,  he  naturally  fell  under 
the  influence  of  the  most  artful  and  least  trustworthy  men  of 
his  party.  His  use  of  the  patronage  of  the  Government  was 
such,  in  some  cases,  as  to  create  the  opinion  that  public  favors 
were  bestowed  in  consideration  of  favors  which  he  had  person 
ally  received.  As  he  had  been  raised  to  the  highest  position 
in  the  country  without  any  training,  he  seemed  to  think  that 
no  preparatory  education  was  needful  for  the  performance  of 
important  and  difficult  duties.  Many  of  his  appointments 
were  severely  criticised  by  a  friendly  press.  Some  were  so 
objectionable  that  the  Senate  was  forced  to  disapprove  of 
them.  The  public  is  slow  in  giving  up  a  favorite,  and  it  was 
a  long  time  before  the  conclusion  became  widespread  that  the 
honored  soldier  was  not  a  trustworthy  President. 

An  effort  had  been  made  by  some  of  his  ardent  personal 
friends,  and  the  recipients  of  his  favors,  to  obtain  for  him  a 


358     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

nomination  for  a  third  term,  but  without  success.  That  he 
should  have  favored  it,  showed  very  clearly  that  he  was 
unconscious  of  the  decline  of  his  popularity,  although  the 
evidences  of  it  were  before  him  in  the  losses  which  his  party 
had  sustained  in  the  recent  election.  He  retired  from  public 
life  under  a  cloud,  but  his  personal  good  fortune  did  not  desert 
him.  The  hold  which  his  success  as  a  soldier  had  given  him 
upon  the  hearts  of  the  people  had  been  shaken  by  his  methods 
of  administering  the  government ;  but  it  was  too  strong  to  be 
uprooted  by  his  mistakes  as  a  civilian.  An  opportunity  only 
was  wanting  to  show  how  strong  this  hold  was,  and  this  was 
presented  when  he  returned  from  the  Old  World  loaded  with 
honors.  In  May,  1877,  with  the  intention  of  going  around  the 
world,  he  took  passage  in  a  Philadelphia  steamship  for  Liver 
pool.  He  was  assured,  in  advance,  of  a  friendly  reception  in 
England.  The  troublesome  questions  which  had  arisen  between 
the  two  countries  during  the  war  had  been  amicably  settled 
while  he  was  President,  and  there  Avas  a  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  English  people,  to  give  to  one  who  had  held  the 
highest  office  in  the  republic,  and  who  had  acquired  great 
distinction  as  a  soldier,  a  hearty  welcome,  on  his  own  account 
and  as  an  expression  of  their  respect  for  the  United  States,  and 
a  return  for  the  kindness  with  which  the  Prince  of  Wales  had 
been  treated  when  he  visited  this  country  some  years  before. 
Besides,  Lucius  Fairchild  was  the  United  States  Consul  at 
Liverpool ;  Adam  Badeau,  Consul  General  at  London ;  and 
Edwards  Pierrepont,  our  representative  at  the  court,  all  of 
whom  had  been  appointed  by  General  Grant  and  were  his 
warm  personal  friends.  All  these  circumstances  combined  to 
make  his  reception  at  Liverpool,  London,  and  other  places 
which  he  visited  in  Great  Britain,  gratifying  to  him  and  pleas 
ing  to  his  countrymen  at  home. 

In  order,  however,  that  there  might  be  no  uncertainty  in 
regard  to  his  reception,  Mr.  Pierrepont  had,  in  advance,  called 
the  attention  of  Lord  Derby,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs, 


GRANT'S  TOUR  OF  THE  WORLD.  359 

to  the  subject.  He  knew  that  the  sympathies  of  the  English 
nobility  in  our  civil  war  had  been  with  the  South,  and  that  by 
English  army  officers  General  Lee  had  been  considered  an  abler 
soldier  than  General  Grant,  and  he  feared  that  without  his 
intervention  ex-President  Grant  might  be  treated  with  as  little 
consideration  as  ex-Presidents  Yan  Buren  and  Fillmore  had 
been  when  they  visited  England.  He  had  no  doubt  in  regard 
to  the  manner  in  which  he  woukl  be  received  by  the  middle 
classes  and  common  people,  whose  sympathies  had  been  with 
the  Government  in  the  civil  war,  but  he  had  doubts  as  to  the 
nobility.  He  therefore  had  a  plain  talk  with  Lord  Derby,  and 
obtained  from  him  an  assurance  that,  as  an  ex-President, 
General  Grant  should  be  received  by  the  British  Government 
with  the  same  respect  that  was  usually  shown  to  ex-sovereigns. 
This  assurance  was  made  good.  Great  Britain  is  not  only  one 
of  the  most  powerful  of  nations,  but  she  excels  all  others  in 
her  social  influence.  An  indorsement  by  her  Government  is  a 
passport  to  high  consideration  everywhere,  and  to  no  foreigner 
had  this  indorsement  been  more  strongly  given  than  it  was  to 
General  Grant.  Thus  indorsed,  and  with  this  indorsement 
backed  by  his  military  reputation,  he  was  the  recipient  of  such 
honors  as  had  never  before  been  paid  to  any  one  not  of  royal 
lineage,  in  Germany,  in  Russia,  in  Sweden,  in  Spain,  in  Portu 
gal.  The  European  nations  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in 
honoring  an  ex-President  of  the  United  States  who  had  com 
manded  armies  not  inferior  to  the  best  of  their  own.  Nor  did 
honors  cease  to  be  paid  to  him  when  he  left  Europe.  In 
China,  Japan,  India,  and  Siam  he  was  treated  with  the  greatest 
consideration  by  their  highest  officials.  Equal  honors  awaited 
him  on  his  return  to  the  United  States.  Not  to  be  outdone 
by  foreigners,  the  principal  cities  through  which  he  passed 
from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  competed  with  each  other  in 
honoring  and  welcoming  home  again  one  who  had  been  so 
honored  abroad.  In  Philadelphia,  where  a  year  before  his 
presence  excited  no  interest,  he  was  received  with  an  enthu- 


360     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

siasm  never  before  witnessed  in  the  Quaker  City.     All  business 
was  suspended  ;  the  people  were  seemingly  mad  with  joy. 

As  General  Grant  had  apparently  regained  his  popularity, 
a  strong  but  unavailing  effort  was  made  to  secure  his  nomina 
tion  for  the  Presidency.  It  was  known  that  he  would  not  be 
an  unwilling  candidate,  and  it  was  thought  by  his  friends  that 
the  objection  which  prevailed  against  a  third  term  would  not 
be  in  the  way,  as  Mr.  Hayes's  administration  had  intervened. 
He  was  strongly  supported  in  the  convention  by  some  of  the 
ablest  men  of  the  party,  but  the  sentiment  against  a  third 
term,  consecutive  or  not,  was  strong,  and  there  was  nothing 
in  the  recollection  of  his  eight  years'  administration  to  weaken 
it.  His  defeat  in  the  convention  put  an  end  to  his  political 
aspirations.  He  must  now  remain  in  private  life.  He  had 
been  greatly  honored  by  his  countrymen.  His  name  was 
known  and  respected  throughout  the  world,  but  he  was  not 
content.  He  had  moved  among  the  affluent,  and  had  become 
so  accustomed  to  a  free  expenditure  of  money  that  nothing 
except  the  highest  political  position  seemed  to  him  so  desirable 
as  wealth.  For  rich  men  he  had  great  respect ;  for  poor  men, 
no  matter  how  distinguished  they  might  be  by  intellectual 
attainments,  he  had  but  little  regard.  He  had  felt  the  crush 
ing  influence  of  poverty  for  many  years,  and  although  his  pay 
as  general  of  the  army  had  been  liberal,  and  before  the  com 
mencement  of  his  second  presidential  term  the  salary  of  the 
President  had  been  raised  from  $25,000  to  $50,000  per  year, 
and  he  had  been  the  recipient  of  many  valuable  presents,  he 
was,  in  comparison  with  most  of  his  personal  friends,  poor. 
The  love  of  money  grew  with  the  free  use  of  it  by  himself, 
and  by  his  observation  of  the  influence  which  it  commanded. 
His  ambition  now  was  to  be  rich,  and  so  strong  was  it,  that 
he  was  induced  to  enter  into  a  business  for  which  he  had  no 
fitness,  and  with  a  man  of  no  repute.  His  connection  with 
Ward,  and  the  disgraceful  failure  of  the  firm — one  of  the  most 
disgraceful  failures  that  had  ever  occurred  in  the  United  States 


THE   GKANT  AND    AVAKlTFAILUKE.  361 


—  would  have  irretrievably  ruined  him  in  reputation  as  it  did 
financially,  but  for  the  wonderful  hold  which  he  had  upon  the 
respect  of  the  people  for  his  military  service  and  the  current 
belief  in  his  personal  integrity. 

It  was  well  known  \vhen  he  was  President  that  his 
knowledge  of  men  was  very  imperfect  ;  that  he  had  been  fre 
quently  imposed  upon  by  those  who  understood  his  assailable 
points  ;  that  he  had,  to  no  small  extent,  been  influenced  in  the 
use  of  his  patronage  by  political  adventurers  ;  but  that  he 
should  have  become  the  full  partner  of  a  speculator  about 
whose  character  he  made  no  careful  inquiry,  giving  to  the  firm 

—the  business  of  which  he  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  investi 
gate  —  the  credit  of  his  honored  name;  that  he  should  have 
supposed  that  his  firm  was  making  money  rapidly  by  govern 
ment  contracts,  without  reflecting  that  if  the  profits  were  real 
the  Government  was  being  cheated,  indicated  such  a  want  of 
prudence,  such  childlike  simplicity,  as  to  amaze  even  those  who 
best  understood  his  business  incapacity,  and  stagger  the  faith 
of  those  who  knew  him  most  intimately.  For  a  time  after 
the  failure,  although  his  personal  integrity  was  not  generally 
doubted,  great  indignation  was  felt  and  expressed  against  him  ; 
but  after  it  became  known  that  he  had  been  hopelessly  ruined 
by  the  failure,  and  that  one  of  his  sons  had  been  ruined  also, 
and  that  he  had  offered  not  only  to  surrender  his  private  estate, 
but  even  to  pledge  his  medals  to  the  creditors  of  the  firm,  indig 
nation  gave  way  to  regret  ;  and  when  it  was  understood  that  his 
sorrow  and  shame  over  this  disreputable  failure  had  aggravated, 
if  it  did  not  produce,  a  painful  and  incurable  disease  of  which 
he  was  the  victim,  the  deepest  sympathy  was  felt  for  him, 
which  increased  day  by  day  until  the  end  came  and  the  whole 
nation  was  in  mournin«-. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Navy — The  Blockade  the  Severest  Blow  given  to  the  South — Gallantry 
on  Both  Sides — Services  of  the  Navy  not  confined  to  the  Blockade — Bat 
tle  between  the  "  Monitor  "  and  the  "  Virginia"  the  most  Important  Single 
Event  of  the  War — Passage  of  the  Union  Ships  by  Forts  Jackson  and 
St.  Philip— Capture  of  New  Orleans— Battle  in  Mobile  Bay— Gallantry 
of  Farragut— Letter  of  Captain  Theodoras  Bailey— The  Effect  of  the  War 
upon  our  Merchant  Marine. 

THE  navy  shares  with  the  array  the  honor  of  preserving 
the  national  integrity.  But  for  the  navy,  the  rebellion 
would  not  have  been  overcome.  It  was  no  small  matter  to 
blockade  the  numerous  ports  of  nearly  a  thousand  miles  of 
sea-coast.  They  were  blockaded,  and  it  was  the  blockade  that 
isolated  the  Confederate  States,  and  caused  their  exhaustion. 
If  the  markets  of  Europe  had  been  open  to  them  for  the  sale 
of  their  cotton  and  tobacco,  and  the  purchase  of  supplies  for 
their  armies,  their  subjugation  would  have  been  impossible. 
It  was  not,  as  has  been  said,  by  defeats  in  the  field,  that  the 
Confederates  were  overcome,  but  by  the  exhaustion  resulting 
from  their  being  shut  up  within  their  own  domain,  and  com 
pelled  to  rely  upon  themselves  and  their  own  productions. 
The  best  blood  of  the  South — nearly  all  of  its  young  and  middle- 
aged  men — was  in  its  armies.  When  the  war  was  over,  there 
were  few  Southern  families  from  which  there  were  not 
sons  or  fathers  missing ;  and  yet  such  was  the  devotion  of  the 
people  to  their  cause,  that  the  depleted  ranks  of  their  armies, 
would  have  been  filled,  and  the  war,  on  their  part,  have  been 
successfully  maintained,  if  the  blockade  had  not  cut  off  all 
external  sources  of  supply  and  bankrupted  their  treasury.  No 
people  under  the  sun  ever  displayed  such  self-sacrificing  devo 
tion  to  the  cause  for  which  they  fought,  as  did  the  people  of 


EFFECTIVENESS   OF   THE   NAVY.  363 

the  South,  in  this  the  greatest  of  all  civil  wars.  While  many 
of  the  leaders,  controlled  by  ambitious  and  selfish  considera 
tions,  desired  the  separation  of  the  slave  States  from  the  free, 
because  they  perceived  that  Southern  influence  was  compara 
tively  on  the  wane,  and  the  establishment  of  an  independent 
government  of  which  they  were  to  be  the  master  spirits, 
a  very  large  majority  of  the  Southern  people  believed  that 
State  sovereignty,  and  the  rights  of  property,  were  not  safe 
under  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  they  shed  their 
blood  as  freely,  and  submitted  to  great  sacrifices  as  willingly, 
in  defence  of  slavery,  and  what  they  considered  the  rights  of 
States,  as  they  would  have  done  if  the  avowed  purpose  of  the 
Government  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  had  been  to 
deprive  the  South  of  its  constitutional  rights  and  to  free  the 
slaves,  without  compensation  to  their  owners.  "  As  a  man 
thinketh,  so  he  is."  The  Southern  people  thought  that  they 
were  right  in  their  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  that  to 
their  States,  not  to  the  Federal  Government,  primary  allegi 
ance  was  due,  and  it  was  for  their  rights,  as  they  understood 
them,  that  they  fought  to  the  bitter  end.  In  this  they  were  not 
singular.  Little  of  the  fighting  that  the  world  has  witnessed 
has  been  for  really  justifiable  causes,  and  yet  there  have  been 
but  few  wars,  foreign  or  civil,  in  which  to  those  engaged, 
their  rights  or  their  honor  did  not  seem  to  be  at  stake.  All 
have  asked  the  divine  blessing  upon  their  arms,  and  the  invo 
cation  has  been  as  hearty  on  the  one  side  as  on  the  other — on 
the  wrong  as  on  the  right. 

It  was  not,  however,  by  the  blockade  alone  that  the  navy 
rendered  service  to  the  government.  Without  the  navy,  the 
Northern  sea-ports  might  not  have  been  safe.  Without  the  navy, 
New  Orleans  would  not  have  been  brought  again  under  the 
Union  flag.  Without  the  gun-boats,  Vicksburg  would  not  have 
been  captured ;  nor  without  the  gun-boats  and  the  fleet,  would 
the  Mississippi  have  been  opened.  In  this  war,  with  the 
exception  of  the  contest  between  the  Monitor  and  the  Vir- 


364  MEN    AND    MEASURES    OF   HALF    A    CENTURY. 

yinia,  there  was  no  opportunity  for  the  display  of  seamanship, 
and  courage  in  engagements,  fleet  against  fleet,  or  ship  against 
ship;  but  by  the  manner  in  which  the  wooden  ships  and  the 
gun-boats  were  handled  at  the  various  points,  especially  on  the 
Mississippi,  below  New  Orleans,  and  at  Mobile,  ample  evidence 
was  afforded  that  the  American  captains  and  seamen  were 
not  deficient  in  the  skill  and  bravery  that  distinguished  their 
predecessors  in  the  wars  between  the  United  States  and  Eng 
land.  In  proof  of  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  glance  at  two 
or  three  instances  in  which  these  qualities  were  displayed. 

The  little  United  States  Monitor,  under  the  command  of 
John  Lorimer  "Worden,  appeared  in  Hampton  Roads  just  in 
season  to  prevent  the  Confederate  iron-clad  Virginia  from 
completing  the  work  which  she  had  commenced  the  day  before 
in  the  destruction  of  the  frigates  Cumberland  and  Congress. 
If  the  Monitor  had  arrived  twelve  hours  later,  or  if  she  had 
been  worsted  in  the  first  fight  between  iron-clads,  the  other 
frigates,  the  St.  Louis,  the  Minnesota  and  the  Roanoke,  would 
have  shared  the  fate  of  the  Cumberland  and  the  Congress.  The 
conversion  of  the  United  States  frigate  Merrimac,  which  had 
fallen  into  their  possession  when  Norfolk  was  abandoned,  into 
an  iron-clad  was  a  feat  in  design  and  manufacturing  skill  which 
was  not  expected  of  the  Confederates.  But  for  the  opportune 
arrival  of  the  Monitor  on  the  9th  of  March,  1802,  she  would  not 
only  have  given  the  possession  of  Hampton  Roads  to  the  Con 
federates,  but  every  Northern  sea-port  might  have  been  at  her 
mercy.  The  fight  between  these  two  iron-clads  was  of  moment 
ous  importance  to  the  United  States  and  the  Con  federate  gov 
ernments  ;  but  its  influence  was  not  confined  to  them — it  was 
felt  by  every  naval  power  in  the  world.  It  made  iron  and  steel 
substitutes  for  wood  in  the  construction  of  ships  of  war.  It 
rendered  valueless  fleets  upon  which  countless  millions  had 
been  expended.  It  revolutionized  naval  warfare.  In  its  con 
sequences,  it  was  the  most  important  of  all  naval  battles.  In 
the  management  of  his  little  craft  in  this  fiirht  with  an  iron- 


FARRAGUT'S  PASSAGE  OF  THE  FORTS.  365 

clad  ship  four  times  as  large.  Lieutenant  (now  Admiral)  \Vor- 
den  won  world-wide  renown.  The  manner  in  which  both  of 
these  iron-clads  were  managed  in  this,  the  longest  and  most 
interesting  of  naval  duels,  commanded  the  admiration  of  all 
naval  men. 

I  have  always  thought  that  this  battle  between  the  Monitor 
and  the  Virginia  was  the  most  important  single  event  of  the 
war.  If  the  Monitor  had  been  destroyed  or  captured,  the 
Northern  sea-ports  would  have  been  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Virginia,  the  blockade  would  have  been  raised,  the  Southern 
sea-ports  would  have  been  opened  to  the  world.  All  this 
would  have  been  speedily  followed  by  the  recognition  of  the 
Confederacy  as  an  independent  State  by  France  and  England. 
I  never  meet  Admiral  Worden,  whom  I  cannot  help  admiring 
for  his  modesty  as  well  as  for  his  gallantry  and  intelligence, 
without  feeling  that  but  for  him  and  the  little  Monitor  the 
national  unity  might  not,  and  probably  would  not,  have  been 
preserved. 

While  this  battle  between  the  Monitor  and  the  Virginia 
was  the  only  naval  contest,  ship  against  ship,  in  the  civil  war, 
no  achievement  of  the  British  navy  ever  excelled  in  brilliancy 
the  passage  of  the  wooden  ships,  on  their  way  to  New  Orleans, 
by  the  forts,  Jackson  and  St.  Philip,  under  such  a  fire  as 
Farragut  said  the  world  had  never  witnessed.  It  would  have 
been  the  grandest  naval  feat  of  the  war  had  it  not  been  fol 
lowed  by  the  battle  in  Mobile  Bay.  Nothing  ever  surpassed 
the  picturesque  gallantry  displayed  by  Farragut  in  this  last- 
named  battle  when,  lashed  to  the  rigging  at  the  masthead 
of  the  flag-ship,  he  directed  the  movements  of  his  fleet  under 
the  guns  of  two  well-constructed  and  well-armed  forts  through 
a  channel  well  supplied  with  torpedoes,  by  the  explosion  of 
one  of  which  the  iron-clad  Tecumseh,  which  led  the  van,  was 
sunk.  When  the  Tecumsek  went  down,  there  was  hesitation 
on  the  part  of  the  captain  of  the  Brooklyn,  the  next  in  line, 
and  there  seemed  to  be  confusion  among  the  ships,  which 


366     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

threatened  disaster.  "  What  is  the  trouble  ? "  asked  Farragut 
from  his  lofty  perch  on  the  Hartford,  which  was  next  to 
the  Brooklyn.  "  What's  the  matter  there  ?"  "Torpedoes," 
was  the  reply.  "  Damn  the  torpedoes  !  "  shouted  Farragut ; 
"  the  Hartford  will  take  the  lead  !  "  which  she  did.  Order 
was  at  once  restored,  and  a  grand  victory  was  won.  •  If  there 
is  a  record  of  valor  superior  to  that  displayed  by  Farragut 
when  lashed  to  the  rigging  of  his  ship,  a  target  for  the  sharp 
shooters  of  the  forts,  giving  his  orders  through  a  speaking 
trumpet,  and  when  the  leading  gunboat  had  been  destroyed 
by  a  torpedo,  taking  her  place  with  his  own  wooden  ship  ; 
—if  there  is  a  record  of  valor  superior  to  that,  I  should  not 
know  where  to  find  it. 

One  who  met  Farragut  in  society,  without  knowing  any 
thing  of  his  exploits,  would  not  have  dreamed  that  this  retiring, 
modest,  simple-minded  man,  was  one  of  the  bravest  and  most 
skilful  men  that  ever  trod  a  quarter  deck.  Blind  to  all  consid 
erations  but  his  duty  to  his  country,  Farragut  would  have  been 
unconscious  of  his  merits  if  he  had  not  read  the  accounts  of  his 
achievements,  and  been  honored  as  he  was  by  his  countrymen 
and  the  world.  A  native  of  Tennessee,  he  never  for  a  moment 
thought  of  following  his  State  when  she  attempted  to  secede 
from  the  Union.  His  allegiance  to  the  Government  was  never 
shaken.  To  him  there  was  but  one  flag  to  be  sustained — the 
stripes  and  stars,  the  flag  of  the  Union.  The  enemies  of  that 
flag  were  his  enemies,  although  some  of  them  were  his  kindred. 

The  spirit  of  our  naval  oificers  was  exhibited  in  a  letter  to 
Farragut  from  Captain  Theodorus  Bailey,  who  took  the  lead 
in  the  passage  of  the  fleet  on  the  Mississippi  by  the  forts  :  "  I 
agree  with  you  perfectly  in  ignoring  personal  interests  and 
private  feelings,  but  going  in  heart  and  soul  for  the  good  of 
the  service  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  national  interests. 
Nothing  will  please  me  better  than  to  hoist  once  more  the 
square  red  flag,  and  lead  the  van  of  your  squadron  into  Mobile 
Bay  to  the  capture  of  Forts  Morgan  and  Gaines,  as  well  as 


OUR   MARATIME   PROSPECTS.  367 

the  city.  Put  me  down  for  two  chances,  as  the  Jackass  said 
to  the  Monkey,  in  the  Lion's  ball."  The  gallant  captain  would 
have  been  delighted  to  lead  the  way  to  Mobile,  as  he  did  to 
2s"ew  Orleans,  but  he  was  prevented  by  an  attack  of  yellow 
fever. 

The  most  of  the  work  performed  by  the  navy  in  the  civil 
war  was  in  co-operation  with  the  land  forces,  to  the  move 
ments  of  which  the  public  attention  was  mainly  directed  ;  but 
its  services  lost  none  of  their  value  from  not  being  in  the 
foreground.  Arduous  and  most  important  duties  were  faith 
fully  performed  by  the  Union  sailors,  and  whenever  there  was 
an  opportunity,  gallantry  of  the  highest  character  was  dis 
played  by  both  officers  and  men. 

There  need  be  no  apprehension  in  regard  to  our  navy  when 
again  we  have  one.  With  equal  ships,  we  shall  have  nothing 
to  fear  in  a  war  with  any  other  nation.  Although  with  the 
exception  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  in  which  war  ships  were  not 
required,  there  had  been  nearly  fifty  years  of  peace  when  the 
civil  war  broke  out,  there  had  been  no  falling  off  in  the  naval 
skill  or  the  spirit  of  American  seamen.  Honorable  as  was 
the  record  of  our  naval  ships  in  the  last  war  with  England, 
their  record  in  this  war  will  compare  favorably  with  it.  There 
have  been  no  naval  achievements  in  which  superior  courage 
and  ability  were  displayed,  than  in  those  on  the  Mississippi 
and  in  Mobile  Bay.  No  nation  can  boast  of  naval  officers  of 
whom  it  has  had  more  reason  to  be  proud  than  David  G.  Far- 
ragut,  David  D.  Porter,  Theodoras  Bailey,  Thomas  T.  Craven 
(who  went  down  with  the  Tecumseh},  Charles  S.  Boggs,  Thomas 
A.  Jenkins,  and  others  of  the  same  stamp. 

As  the  result  of  our  civil  war,  during  which  our  merchant 
ships  were  either  destroyed  or  disposed  of,  and  of  the  use  of 
iron  and  steel  in  ship  building,  and  of  penny-wise  legislation 
since  the  war,  the  glory  of  the  United  States  as  a  maritime 
and  naval  power  has  departed.  Our  surplus  productions  are 


368     MEX  AXD  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

carried  to  foreign  countries  by  foreign  ships,  and  as  we  have 
no  merchant  marine  to  be  protected,  the  necessity  of  ships  of 
Avar  for  the  defence  of  our  sea-port  cities  has  been  overlooked. 
With  an  overflowing  treasury,  and  sixty  millions  of  people, 
our  sea-coasts  on  both  oceans  are  unprotected  by  any  reliable 
fortifications,  and  we  have  not  a  single  ship  that  can  be  called 
a  first-class  ship  of  war.  Public  attention  is  now  being  turned 
to  the  danger  to  which  the  country  is  thus  exposed,  and  the 
indications  are  that  at  no  distant  day  not  only  will  our  coast 
defences  be  perfected,  but  that  ships  will  be  constructed  which 
Avill  be  an  honor  and  safeguard  to  the  nation.  When  this  is 
accomplished,  if  not  before,  may  we  not  hope  that  an  enlight 
ened  policy  in  regard  to  our  foreign  commerce  and  our  mer 
chant  marine  will  prevail,  and  that  Americans  in  foreign  sea 
ports  will  be  cheered  as  of  yore  by  the  sight  of  the  Stripes 
and  Stars,  where  they  are  now  looked  for  in  vain. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Andrev7  Johnson — His  Devotion  to  the  Union — His  Early  History — His 
Limited  Advantages — His  Self-Reliance  and  Energy — The  Position 
which  he  Took  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Administration — While- 
Military  Governorof  Tennessee,  he  visits  Ohio  and  Indiana — His  Unfortu 
nate  Appearance  when  he  took  the  Oath  as  Vice-President — Mr.  Lincoln's 
Remarks  About  it — He  Takes  the  Oath  of  Office  as  President — He  Desires 
the  Members  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  to  Retain  their  Positions — His 
Reconstruction  Policy — His  View  of  the  Suffrage  Question — His  Veto  of 
the  Civil  Rights  Bill — Extracts  from  his  First  Message  to  Congress — 
Views  Expressed  by  Mr.  Lincoln — His  First  Message  Approved  by  all  the 
Members  of  the  Cabinet — Management  of  the  Different  Departments 
Left  to  their  respective  Heads — Our  Relations  with  Mexico  under  French 
Domination — Reference  to  them  in  the  President's  Message — Action  of 
Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State — His  Wisdom. 

NO  public  man  in  the  United  States  has  been  so  imperfectly 
understood  as  Andrew  Johnson.  None  has  been  so  diffi 
cult  to  understand.  He  had  few  personal  friends  ;  in  no  one 
did  he  entirely  confide.  He  had  many  faults,  but  he  abounded 
also  in  admirable  qualities.  His  love  of  the  Union  was  a 
passion  intensified  by  the  dangers  to  which  it  had  exposed 
him,  and  by  his  labors  in  its  defence.  It  was  his  devotion 
to  the  Union  which  compelled  him  to  oppose  the  Reconstruc 
tion  acts  of  Congress,  which  he  thought  would  greatly  retard,  if 
they  did  not  prevent  its  perfect  restoration.  I  differed  from 
him  upon  some  subjects,  but  I  never  had  reason  to  doubt  his 
patriotism,  or  his  personal  or  official  integrity.  His  history  is 
an  interesting  one. 

Born  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  where  there  were  no 
free  schools,  he  did  not  know  the  alphabet  when,  at  the  age 
of  ten,  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor.  His  desire  to  learn  to 
read  was  created  by  hearing  a  man  who  used  to  visit  the  shop 
read  passages  from  the  speeches  of  celebrated  orators.  To 
24 


370     MKX  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

satisfy  this  desire,  he  purchased  a  spelling-book  and  by  hard 
study  when  he  had  time,  he  was  able  before  the  expiration  of  his 
apprenticeship  to  read  the  speeches  which  he  had  listened  to  with 
so  deep  an  interest,  and  which  gave  birth  to  his  ambition  to  be 
an  orator  himself.  Ability  to  read  was  the  extent  of  his  educa 
tion,  when  he  removed  from  Raleigh  to  Greenville,  Tennessee^ 
with  his  mother  and  sister,  who  were  dependent  upon  him 
for  support ;  and  this  was  its  extent  until  after  his  marriage. 
His  wife,  for  the  time  and  place,  was  an  accomplished  young 
woman.  Under  her  instructions,  he  learned  to  write  and 
cipher.  She  was  a  loving  teacher,  the  only  teacher  he  ever 
had,  and  he  an  apt  and  ambitious  scholar.  Such  were  the  educa 
tional  advantages  of  Andrew  Johnson.  Who  that  knew  him 
then — this  poor  young  man,  the  pupil  of  his  wife,  earning  by 
his  shears  and  his  needle  a  scanty  support  for  himself  and  his 
dependents  in  a  slave-holding  State,  where  manual  labor  was  a 
degradation — who  that  knew  this  young  man  in  these  circum 
stances,  could  have  anticipated  his  future  career  ?  In  whose 
life  were  there  ever  such  wonderful  changes — changes  which 
so  illustrate  the  character  of  republican  institutions  !  Had  he 
been  born  and  reared  under  a  monarchy,  he  would  have  been, 
unless  he  emigrated,  a  restless,  discontented  subject.  In  a 
republic  where  no  repressing  influences  were  at  work,  or  none 
which  brains  and  energy  could  not  overcome,  he  rose  step  by 
step  from  the  very  lowest  station  in  life  to  the  highest.  He 
owed  nothing  to  luck.  He  was  his  own  architect.  To  noth 
ing  was  he  indebted  for  his  rise  except  the  strong  qualities 
which  he  inherited,  and  an  open  field  for  their  development 
and  exercise.  The  usual  controlling  influences  of  men  in  his 
position  were  all  against  bim>  when  he  made  Greenville  his 
home,  and  for  some  years  after.  He  was  a  tailor,  and  depend 
ent  upon  his  own  hands  for  the  maintenance  of  his  family. 
The  power  of  slavery  in  degrading  free  labor  was  less  potent 
in  eastern  than  in  western  Tennessee,  and  in  the  other  slave- 
holding  States ;  but  it  was  strong  there,  and  dominant,  until 


AXDUKW    JOIIXSOX.  371 

he  successfull}r  resisted  it.  While  working  at  his  trade,  he 
was  elected  Mayor  of  Greenville;  next  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature  ;  next  a  member  of  the  State  Senate ;  and  he 
continued  to  work  at  his  trade,  as  far  as  his  public  duties  would 
permit,  until  he  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress  in  1843.  If 
I  mistake  not,  he  was  the  first  tradesman  who  was  sent  to  Con 
gress  from  a  slave  State.  He  continued  by  successive  elections 
to  represent  his  district  in  Congress  until  1853,  when  he  was 
elected  Governor  of  Tennessee.  In  1857,  he  took  his  seat  as  a 
United  States  Senator,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  the  year 
before.  In  1862  he  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln  Mili 
tary  Governor  of  Tennessee,  which  position  he  held  when  he 
was  elected  Vice-President.  On  the  14th  of  April,  1865,  he 
became  President.  From  1869  to  1875  he  was  in  private 
life.  In  1875,  he  was  again  elected  a  United  States  Senator. 
He  died  in  July,  of  that  year,  after  having  served  a  single 
session.  Such  is  an  outline  of  the  life  of  one  of  the  extra 
ordinary  men  of  his  time.  Until  1861,  he  was  a  Democrat, 
and  a  supporter  of  all  the  leading  measures  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party.  In  1860,  he  favored  the  nomination  of  Brecken- 
ridge  and  Lane  for  President  and  Vice-President,  and  gave 
support  to  that  ultra  Democratic  ticket.  In  1861,  he  severed 
his  connection  with  that  wing  of  the  party,  and  became  a 
strong  opponent  of  secession  and  a  hearty  champion  of  the 
Union,  the  only  distinguished  politician  of  the  South  who  never 
faltered  in  his  adhesion  to  the  Government.  Up  to  the  time 
of  his  election  as  Yice-President,  everything  had  gone  well 
with  him.  By  his  opposition  to  secession,  he  had  provoked 
the  bitter  hostility  of  the  leading  men  of  the  South,  but  he 
had  won  the  admiration  of  all  loyal  men  throughout  the 
country/  The  current  of  popular  opinion  was  turned  against 
him  by  the  rambling  and  incoherent  speech  which  he  made 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  upon  taking  the  Vice-President's 
chair ;  it  became  irresistible  long  before  the  expiration  of  his 
term  as  President.  I 


372  MEX    AXD    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

My  attention  was  first  directed  to  Mr.  Johnson  by  the 
decided  stand  which  he  took  in  the  closing  months  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  administration  against  the  secession  movement. 
His  speeches  in  the  Senate  in  that  trying  period  in  our  national 
history  were  remarkable  for  their  boldness  and  force.  He  was 
in  that  body  the  only  outspoken,  uncompromising  supporter 
of  the  Union  from  the  South.  Disregarding  the  threats  of 
personal  violence  by  prominent  men  in  Tennessee,  which  were 
significantly  referred  to  in  the  Senate  chamber  by  some  of 
the  advocates  of  secession  from  the  South,  he  stood  before 
the  country  as  an  earnest  defender  of  the  Government  as  it 
was,  the  hearty  opponent  of  all  attempts  to  dismember  it. 
While  he  was  performing  his  duty  as  a  United  States  Senator, 
at  the  special  session  in  1861,  his  family  were  driven  from  their 
home  and  subjected  to  persecution  and  ill  treatment,  by  which 
the  health  of  his  wife  was  permanently  injured.  No  man  was 
more  attached  to  his  family  than  he  was,  but  he  felt  that  his 
country  had  the  highest  claim  upon  him,  and  he  remained  at 
his  post  until  the  session  was  closed.  His  duties  as  military 
governor  put  both  his  executive  ability  and  his  personal 
courage  to  the  severest  tests,  but  they  were  performed  in  a 
manner  which  challenged  the  respect  of  even  his  personal  and 
political  enemies  in  Tennessee,  and  secured  approbation  in 
Washington.  In  March,  1864,  although  the  Confederacy  was 
still  strong,  and  Tennessee  was  overrun  by  gangs  of  Confeder 
ate  marauders,  elections  were  held  by  his  orders  for  State  and 
county  offices,  and  the  machinery  for  civil  government  was 
put  in  operation.  Tennessee  was  thus  saved  from  the  utter 
disorganization  which  prevailed  in  the  other  Southern  States, 
except  Louisiana,  upon  the  collapse  of  the  Confederate  Govern 
ment  in  the  following  spring.  While  he  was  military  governor, 
Mr.  Johnson  made  brief  visits  to  Ohio  and  Indiana.  Plis 
speeches  in  both  States  were  in  full  accord  with  the  Union 
sentiment  of  the  loyal  people,  and  were  listened  to  with  great 
favor  by  the  many  thousands  who  flocked  to  hear  him.  I  was 


LINCOLX    OX    JOIINSOX.  373 

then  living  in  Indiana,  and  I  shared  in  the  enthusiasm  which 
his  visits  excited. 

I  was  not  present  when  Mr.  Johnson  took  the  oath  of  Yice- 
President  in  the  Senate  chamber,  but  the  reports  of  his  speech 
on  that  occasion  amazed  me.  It  was  so  different  from  what 
had  been  expected  of  him,  so  incoherent,  so  rambling,  that 
those  who  listened  to  it  thought  that  he  was  intoxicated.  "  It 
was  not,"  said  a  senator  to  me  the  next  morning,  "  the  speech 
of  Andrew  Johnson,  but  the  speech  of  a  drunken  man  ; "  and 
such  it  undoubtedly  was.  He  had  been  ill  for  some  days  before 
he  left  home,  and  on  his  way  to  Washington  had  taken  brandy 
as  an  astringent.  On  the  day  of  his  inauguration  as  Vice- 
President  he  was  really  ill,  and  was  so  unwise  as  to  resort  to  a 
stimulant  before  he  went  to  the  Senate  chamber.  His  appear 
ance  and  speech  on  that  occasion  made  a  most  unfavorable 
impression  upon  the  crowded  assembly,  and  fears  were  excited 
that,  at  the  time  when  wise  and  sober  counsels  were  especially 
required,  an  intemperate  man  had  been  elected  Vice-President. 
These  fears  were  groundless,  but  the  report  of  his  appearance 
and  speech  made  an  impression  upon  minds  suspicious  of  all 
Southern  men  that  was  never  entirely  removed.  I  had  then 
no  personal  acquaintance  with  him,  and  I  shared  in  the  distrust 
which  generally  prevailed.  Meeting  Mr.  Lincoln  a  day  or  two 
after,  I  said  to  him  that  the  country,  in  view  of  the  Vice-Presi 
dent's  appearance  on  the  4th,  had  a  deeper  stake  than  ever  in 
his  life.  He  hesitated  for  a  moment,  and  then  remarked  with 
unusual  seriousness:  "  I  have  known  Andy  Johnson  for  many 
years ;  he  made  a  bad  slip  the  other  day,  but  you  need  not  be 
scared  ;  Andy  ain't  a  drunkard." 

This  remark  of  Mr.  Lincoln  came  home  to  me  when,  a  few 
weeks  afterwards,  I  heard  Mr.  Johnson  take  the  oath  as  Presi 
dent.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  right.  Mr.  Johnson  was  especially 
intemperate  as  a  speaker  when  defending  his  policy  and  reply 
ing  to  the  severe  criticism  to  which  he  was  subjected,  but  not  in 
the  use  of  liquor.  I  had  good  opportunities  for  observing  his 


374     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

habits,  and  my  fears  made  me  watchful.  For  six  weeks  after 
he  became  President,  he  occupied  a  room  adjoining  mine,  and 
communicating  with  it,  in  the  Treasury  Department.  He  was 
there  every  morning  before  nine  o'clock,  and  he  rarely  left 
before  five.  There  was  no  liquor  in  his  room.  It  was  open  to 
everybody.  His  luncheon,  when  he  had  one,  was,  like  mine,  a 
cup  of  tea  and  a  cracker.  It  was  in  that  room  that  he  received 
the  delegations  that  waited  upon  him,  and  the  personal  and 
political  friends  who  called  to  pay  their  respects.  It  was  there 
that  he  made  the  speeches  which  startled  the  country  by  the 
bitterness  of  their  tone — their  almost  savage  denunciations 
of  secessionists  as  traitors  who  merited  the  traitors  doom. 
So  intemperate  were  some  of  these  speeches,  that  I  should  have 
attributed  them  to  the  use  of  stimulants  if  I  had  not  known 
them  to  be  the  speeches  of  a  sober  man,  who  could  not  over 
come  the  habit  of  denunciatory  declamation  which  he  had 
formed  in  his  bitter  contests  in  Tennessee.  They  were,  like 
all  of  his  subsequent  offhand  addresses,  quite  unsuited  to  his 
position  as  President.  If  he  had  been  smitten  with  dumbness 
when  he  was  elected  Vice-President,  he  would  have  escaped  a 
world  of  trouble.  From  that  time  onward  he  never  made 
an  offhand  public  speech  by  which  he  did  not  suffer  in  public 
estimation,  but  none  of  them  could  be  charged  to  the  account 
of  strong  drink.  For  nearly  four  years  I  had  daily  intercourse 
with  him,  frequently  at  night,  and  I  never  saw  him  .when 
under  the  influence  of  liquor.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  whatever  may  have  been  his  faults,  intemperance  was 
not  among  them.  There  was  a  marked  difference  between 
his  carefully-prepared  papers  and  his  offhand  speeches.  The 
former  were  well  written  and  dignified  ;  the  latter  were  incon 
siderate,  retaliatory,  and  in  a  style  which  could  only  be  tole 
rated  in  the  heat  of  a  political  campaign — hence  the  opinion 
that  they  were  made  when  he  was  under  the  influence  of  liquor. 
It  was  at  his  hotel,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  April, 
that  the  oath  of  office  as  President  was  administered  to  Mr. 


TAKES   THE   OATH   AS   PRESIDENT.  375 

Johnson  by  Chief-Justice  Chase,  in  the  presence  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Lincoln  Cabinet  (except  Mr.  Seward)  and  two  or 
three  senators  who  happened  to  be  in  the  city.  The  ceremony 
was  simple,  but  the  circumstances  wrere  painful  and  alarming. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  body,  from  which  life  had  departed  but  a  few 
hours  before,  had  just  been  conveyed  to  the  White  House, 
which  he  had  left  the  evening  before  in  the  best  of  spirits. 
Mr.  Seward  was  lying  upon  his  bed  desperately,  if  not  fatally, 
wounded.  It  had  been  a  night  of  horrors.  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
been  slain  in  a  theatre;  Mr.  Seward  had  been  assaulted  in 
his  bedroom,  and  reports  were  current  that  attempts  had 
been  made  to  assassinate  the  Vice-President  and  the  Secretary 
of  War.  The  streets  were  thronged  with  deeply  excited  but 
undemonstrative  people.  A  feeling  of  uncertainty  and  depres 
sion  pervaded  the  community.  The  blow  which  had  been 
struck  against  the  Government  through  its  chief  was  so  unex 
pected  and  terrible,  that  the  bravest  seemed  to  be  awe-struck 
and  staggered.  Vigorous  measures  had  been  taken  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  assassins,  but 
there  were  no  visible  enemies  to  be  struck.  Many  thought 
that  the  Confederates,  having  been  defeated  in  war,  were 
attempting  to  break  up  the  Government  by  assassinating  its 
officials — that  bloody  treason  was  lurking  throughout  jthe 
city.  There  were  doubtless  some  in  Washington  who  were 
exultant  over  what  had  happened ;  soine  there  were  who 
were  suspected  of  being  desperate  traitors,  if  ncrl^participants 
in  the  terrible  crimes  which  had  been  committed,  but  they 
were  not  in  the,  crowd,  nor  in  the.  streets.  If  they  had  been, 
and  attention  Tiad  b"5eh  directed  to  then,  their  doom  would 
have  been  speedily  sealed.  Vengeance  was  ready  to  do  its 
work ;  objects  to  wreak  its  force  upon  only  were  wanting. 
Such  were  the  circumstances  under  which  Mr.  Johnson  was 
called  upon  to  undertake  the  duties  of  President.  There  was 
to  be  no  interregnum.  The  Government  was  not  to  be  with 
out  a  head  for  a  day,  if  delay  could  be  avoided. 


376    MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

The  conduct  of  Mr.  Johnson  favorably  impressed  those 
who  were  present  when  the  oath  was  administered  to  him. 
He  was  griefstricken  like  the  rest,  and  he  seemed  to  be 
oppressed  by  the  suddenness  of  the  call  upon  him  to  become 
President  of  the  great  nation  which  had  been  deprived  by  an 
assassin  of  its  tried  and  honored  chief  ;  but  he  was,  neverthe 
less,  calm  and  self-possessed.  He  requested  the  members  of 
the  Cabinet  to  remain  with  him  after  the  Chief  Justice  and 
the  other  witnesses  of  the  ceremony  had  retired,  and  he 
expressed  to  each  and  all  of  us  his  desire  that  we  should  stand 
by  him  in  his  difficult  and  responsible  position.  This  desire 
was  expressed  in  the  language  of  entreaty,  and  he  appeared  to 
be  relieved  when  he  was  assured  that  while  we  felt  it  to  be  our 
duty  to  him  to  place  our  resignations  in  his  hands,  he  should 
have  the  benefit  of  such  services  as  we  could  render  until  he 
saw  fit  to  dispense  with  them.  Our  conference  with  him  was 
short,  but  when  we  left  him,  the  unfavorable  impression  which 
had  been  made  upon  us  by  the  reports  of  his  unfortunate 
speech  when  he  took  the  Yice-President's  chair  had  under 
gone  a  considerable  change.  We  all  felt  as  we  left  him,  not 
entirely  relieved  of  apprehensions,  but  at  least  hopeful  that  he 
would  prove  to  be  a  popular  and  judicious  President.  The 
hopes  of  none  of  us  were  fully  realized  as  time  went  on  and 
controversies  arose  between  him  and  Congress ;  but  his  first 
year's  administration  was  cordially  supported  by  every  mem 
ber  of  his  Cabinet. 

Upon  leaving  the  President,  each  of  the  members  went  to 
his  department  sad  and  sorrowful,  but  still  with  the  feeling 
that  the  republic  was  safe,  and  that  the  Government  itself  had 
not  been  even  weakened  by  the  great  calamity  that  had  befal 
len  it.  To  the  Assistant  Treasurer  in  New  York,  I  sent  a 
message  advising  him  that  the  Yice-President  had  taken  the 
oath  as  President,  and  that  the  public  business  would  go  on 
without  intermission  or  disturbance.  From  the  other  depart 
ments  encouraging  messages  were  also  sent  out,  and  these, 


JOHNSOX   AND   THE   CIVIL    SERVICE.  377 

together  with  the  reports  that  no  changes  in  the  Cabinet  were 
contemplated,  did  much  to  prevent  alarm  and  distrust  through 
out  the  country.  After  Mr.  Lincoln's  remains  had  been  buried 
at  Springfield,  and  the  President  had  taken  possession  of  the 
Executive  Mansion,  the  executive  business  of  the  Government 
was  taken  up  where  it  had  been  left  by  Mr.  Lincoln. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  review  Mr.  Johnson's  administra 
tion,  but  there  were  some  things  about  which  he  was  mis 
understood  or  misrepresented,  to  which  I  must  briefly  refer. 
Mr.  Johnson  was  a  man  of  unblemished  personal  integrity. 
He  was  an  honest  man,  and  his  administration  was  an  honest 
and  clean  administration.  In  this  respect  it  will  bear  com 
parison  with  any  that  preceded  or  has  followed  it.  In 
appointments,  money  was  not  potent.  Offices  were  not  mer 
chandise.  The  President  never  permitted  himself  to  be  placed 
under  personal  obligations  to  any  one.  He  received  no  pres 
ents.  The  horses  and  carriage  which  were  sent  to  him  soon 
after  he  became  President  were  promptly  returned.  When 
he  was  so  unwise  as  to  suppose  that  there  might  be  a  third 
party,  of  which  he  was  to  be  the  head,  he  did,  under  the 
advise  of  injudicious  friends,  make  some  official  changes  to 
accomplish  this  object ;  but  there  were  fewer  changes  than  are 
usually  made  even  when  an  administration  follows  one  of  the 
same  partv.  There  were  more  offices  connected  with  the 
Treasury  Department  than  with  any  other,  and  it  is  due  to 
Mr.  Johnson  that  I  should  say  that  his  desire  seemed  always 
to  be  that  it  should  be  fairly  and  honestly  administered,  and, 
except  for  a  very  brief  period,  independently  of  political  con 
siderations.!  In  no  instance  did  he  interfere  with  its  manage 
ment.  In  nis  bitter  contest  with  Congress,  although  most  of 
the  employees  of  the  department  were  politically  opposed  to 
him  and  his  Eeconstruction  policy,  he  never  even  suggested 
that  changes  should  be  made  for  that  reason. \  If  he  did  not 
declare  that  public  offices  were  public  trusts,  his  actions  proved 
that  he  so  regarded  them.  In  some  matters  I  doubted  the 


378  MEN   AND   MEASUKES   OF   HALF   A   CENTITKY. 

correctness  of  his  judgment,  but  I  never  doubted  his  devotion 
to  what  he  considered  his  duty  to  the  country,  and  the  whole 
country.  lie  was  a  laborious,  painstaking  man.  For  him, 
fashionable  watering-places  had  no  attractions.  Neither  by 
him  nor  by  any  member  of  his  Cabinet  was  recuperation 
sought  at  the  seaside  or  in  the  mountains.  His  administration 
had  little  popular  and  no  distinctive  party  support ;  but  judged 
by  its  merits,  as  sooner  or  later  it  will  be,  it  will  cast  no  dis 
credit  upon  the  national  honor. 

The  first  great  work  which  demanded  the  attention  of  Mr. 
Johnson  and  his  Cabinet  was  the  restoration  of  the  relations 
between  the  Southern  States  and  the  Government,  which  he 
and  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  regarded  as  having,  been 
suspended  but  not  destroyed  by  the  war;  and  this  work 
was  taken  up  just  where  Mr.  Lincoln  had  left  it.  The  very 
same  instrument  for  restoring  the  national  authority  over 
North  Carolina,  and  placing  her  where  she  stood  before  her 
attempted  secession,  which  had  been  approved  by  Mr.  Lincoln, 
was  by  Mr.  Stanton  presented  at  the  first  Cabinet  meeting 
which  was  held  at  the  Executive  Mansion  after  Mr.  Lincoln's 
death,  and  having  been  carefully  considered  at  two  or  three 
meetings,  was  adopted  as  the  Reconstruction  policy  of  the 
Administration.  As  the  work  went  on  during  the  summer  and 
autumn,  there  were  complaints,  chiefly  from  men  who  were 
opposed  to  what  they  called  the  re-admission  to  the  Union  of 
the  Southern  States  before  Congress  had  authorized  it.  Their 
contention  was,  that  manhood  suffrage,  irrespective  of  color, 
should  be  the  corner-stone  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  South 
ern  States,  and  that  they  should  remain  under  military  control 
until  that  question  was  settled,  and  until  Congress  should 
determine  what  else  should  be  required  in  order  that  they 
might  regain  the  right  which  they  had  forfeited  by  their 
rebellion.  The  President  and  his  Cabinet,  on  the  contrary, 
thought  that  the  best  interests  of  the  whole  country  demanded 
that  the  work  of  reconstruction  should  go  on  as  rapidly  as  wa? 


THE    RECONSTRUCTION    POLICY.  379 

possible,  and  as  it  had  been  commenced.  Neither  he  nor  either 
of  his  counselors  thought  it  advisable  that  a  special  session 
of  Congress  should  be  called,  or  that  reconstruction  should  be 
delayed  until  the  regular  session.  All  thought — as  the  Execu 
tive  action  was  in  harmony  with  the  views  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
which  were  well  known,  before  his  second  election — that  the 
true  Union  sentiment  of  the  country  would  be  satisfied  with 
what  was  being  done,  notwithstanding  the  adverse  criticism  of 
some  prominent  men  and  a  few  public  journals.  In  my 
address  at  Fort  Wayne,  I  referred  to  the  reconstruction  policy 
of  the  Administration  as  follows  : 

"  Under  the  President's  direction  the  great  work  of  re-estab 
lishing  civil  government  at  the  South  under  the  Federal  Con 
stitution  is  going  rapidly  forward — too  rapidly,  it  seems,  accord 
ing  to  the  opinion  of  many  at  the  North  whose  opinions  are 
entitled  to  great  consideration.  I  know,  sir,  that  many  doubt 
the  wisdom  of  Mr.  Johnson's  policy  ;  that  many  are  of  the 
opinion  that  by  their  ordinance  of  secession  the  rebellious  States 
had  ceased  to  be  States  under  the  Constitution,  and  that  noth 
ing  should  be  done  by  the  Executive  in  aid  of  the  restoration  of 
their  State  governments  until  Congress  had  determined  on  what 
terms  they  should  be  restored  to  the  Union  which  they  had 
voluntarily  abandoned  and  attempted  to  destroy  ;  that  as  the 
people  of  these  States  had  appealed  to  the  sword  and  been 
subjugated  by  the  sword,  they  should  be  governed  by  the 
sword  until  the  law-making  power  had  disposed  of  the  subject 
of  Reconstruction  ;  that  no  State  that  had  passed  ordinances  of 
secession  and  united  with  the  so-called  Confederate  Govern 
ment  should  ever  be  admitted  again  into  the  Union  unless 
in  its  preliminary  proceedings  all  men,  irrespective  of  color, 
should  be  permitted  to  vote,  nor  without  provisions  in  its 
Constitution  for  the  absolute  enfranchisement  of  the  negro. 
Some  go  even  farther  than  this,  and  demand  the  confiscation 
of  the  property  of  all  rebels  and  the  application  of  the  pro 
ceeds  to  the  payment  of  the  national  debt. 

"  These  are  not,  I  apprehend,  the  views  of  a  respectable 
minority.  I  know  that  they  are  not  the  views  of  a  majority  of 
the  people  of  the  North.  The  better  opinion  is,  that  the  States 
which  attempted  to  secede  never  ceased  to  be  States  in  the 
Union  ;  that  all  their  acts  of  secession  were  of  no  effect ;  that 
during  the  progress  of  the  revolt,  the  exercise  of  the  Federal 


380  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

authority  was  merely  suspended,  and  that  there  never  was  a 
moment  when  the  allegiance  of  the  people  of  the  insurrec 
tionary  States  was  not  due  to  the  Government,  and  when  the 
Government  was  not  bound  to  maintain  its  authority  over  them 
and  extend  protection  to  those  who  required  it.  When  the 
rebellion  was  overcome,  the  so-called  Confederate  Government, 
and  all  State  Governments  which  had  been  formed  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  Federal  Government,  ceased  to  have  even  a  nominal 
existence,  and  the  people  who  had  been  subject  to  them  were 
left,  for  the  time  being,  without  any  government  whatever. 
The  term  of  office  of  the  Federal  officers  had  expired,  or  the 
offices  had  become  vacant  by  the  treason  of  those  who  held 
them.  There  were  no  Federal  revenue  officers,  no  competent 
Federal  judges,  and  no  organized  Federal  courts.  Nor  were  the 
people  any  better  off  so  far  as  State  authority  was  regarded. 
When  the  Confederacy  collapsed,  all  the  rebel  State  govern 
ments  collapsed  with  it,  so  that,  with  a  few  exceptions,  there 
were  no  persons  holding  civil  office  at  the  South  by  the  author 
ity  of  any  legitimate  government. 

"  Now,  as  a  government  is  at  all  times  a  necessity  among 
men,  and  as  it  was  especially  so  at  the  South,  where  violence 
and  lawlessness  had  full  sway,  the  question  to  be  decided  by 
the  President  was  simply  this  :  Shall  the  people  of  the  recently 
rebellious  States  be  held  under  military  rule  until  Congress 
shall  act  upon  the  question ;  or  shall  immediate  measures  be 
taken  by  the  Executive  to  restore  to  them  civil  governments  ? 
After  mature  consideration,  the  President  concluded  it  to  be 
his  duty  to  adopt  the  latter  course,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  in 
doing  so  he  has  acted  wisely.  Military  rule  will  not  be 
endured  by  "the  people  of  the  United  States  one  moment 
longer  than  there  is  absolute  necessity  for  it.  Such  an  army 
as  would  have  been  requisite  for  the  government  of  the  people 
of  the  South,  as  a  subjugated  people,  until  Congress  might 
prescribe  the  terms  on  which  they  could  be  restored  to  the 
Union,  would  have  been  too  severe  a  strain  upon  our  republi 
can  institutions,  and  too  expensive  for  the  present  condition  of 
the  Treasury.  The  President  has,  therefore,  gone  to  work  to 
restore  the  Union  by  the  use,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case, 
of  a  portion  of  those  who  have  been  recently  in  arms  to 
overthrow  it.  The  experiment  may  be  regarded  as  a  dan 
gerous  one,  but  it  will  be  proved,  I  apprehend,  to  have  been  a 
judicious  one.  I  have  met  a  great  man}7"  of  those  whom  the 
President  is  using  in  his  Kestoration  policy,  and  they  have 
impressed  me  most  favorably.  I  believe  them  to  be  honest 
in  taking  the  amnesty  oath,  and  in  their  pledges  of  fidelity  to 


VETO    OF   THE   CIVIL    RIGHTS   BILL.  381 

the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  Slavery  has  perished — this 
all  acknowledge — and  with  it  has  gone  down  the  doctrine  of 
secession.  State  sovereignty  had  been  discussed  in  Congress, 
before  courts,  in  the  public  journals,  and  among  the  people, 
and  at  last  '  when  madness  ruled  the  hour,'  this  vexed  question 
was  submitted  to  the  final  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  The 
question,  as  all  admit,  has  been  fairly  and  definitely  decided, 
and  from  this  decision  of  the  sword  there  will  be  no  appeal. 
It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  men  of  the  South  feel  sore  at 
the  result,  but  they  accept  the  situation,  and  are  preparing  for 
the  changes  which  the  war  has  produced  in  their  domestic 
institutions  with  an  alacrity  and  an  exhibition  of  good  feeling 
which  has,  I  confess,  surprised  as  it  has  gratified  me. 

"  In  the  work  of  restoration  the  President  has  aimed  to  do 
only  that  which  was  necessary  to  be  done,  exercising  only  that 
power  which  could  be  properly  exercised  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  which  guarantees  to  every  State  a  republican  form  of 
government.  Regarding  slavery  as  having  perished  in  the 
rebellious  States,  either  by  the  proclamation  of  his  predecessor 
or  by  the  result  of  the  war ;  and  determining  that  no  rebel 
who  had  not  purged  himself  of  his  treason  should  have  any 
part  in  the  restoration  of  the  civil  governments  which  he  is 
aiding  to  establish,  he  has  not  considered  it  within  the  scope 
of  his  authority  to  go  farther,  and  enfranchise  the  negro.  For 
this  he  is  censured  by  many  true  men  at  the  Xorth,  and  a  few 
extreme  men  at  the  South,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  will 
be  sustained  by  the  people,  and  that  the  result  will  vindicate 
the  wisdom  of  his  course." 

My  somewhat  confident  expectations  were  not  realized. 
The  very  imprudent  speech  that  was  made  by  the  President 
in  February,  1866,  and  his  veto  of  the  Civil  Rights  bill  in  the 
following  month,  in  which,  according  to  a  recent  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  he  was  right,  turned  not  only  the  Republi 
can  party  but  the  general  public  sentiment  of  the  Northern 
States  against  him,  and  from  that  time  onward  there  was  open 
hostility  between  the  executive  and  the  legislative  branches  of 
the  Government.  There  were  some  incidental  questions  of 
disagreement  between  them,  but  the  most  important  one  was 
the  suffrage  question.  Mr.  Johnson,  although  an  earnest 
opponent  of  secession,  was  equally  opposed  to  federal  centrali- 


382  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

zation.  He  believed,  as  did  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  father  of  the 
Democratic  party,  that  all  rights  which  were  not  clearly  con 
ferred  upon  the  Government  by  the  Constitution,  or  which 
were  not  fairly  inferable  from  those  which  were  expressly 
granted,  were  reserved  by  the  States.  He  believed  that  in 
these  reserved  rights  the  right  of  secession  was  not  included, 
and  he  believed  also  that  the  Government  had  no  authority  to 
declare  who  should  be  citizens  of  the  States,  or  what,  within 
the  States,  should  be  the  qualification  of  voters.  His  views 
upon  this  subject  were  fairly  presented  in  the  following 
passages  from  his  first  message,  one  of  the  most  judicious 
executive  papers  which  was  ever  sent  to  Congress.  It  is  the 
same  that  Mr.  Adams  referred  to  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Brooks : 

'•  The  relations  of  the  General  Government  towards  the 
four  millions  of  inhabitants  whom  the  war  has  called  into 
freedom,  have  engaged  my  most  serious  consideration.  On  the 
propriety  of  attempting  to  make  the  freedmen  electors  by 
the  proclamation  of  the  Executive,  I  took  for  my  counsel  the 
Constitution  itself,  the  interpretations  of  that  instrument  by  its 
authors  and  their  contemporaries,  and  recent  legislation  by 
Congress.  When,  at  the  first  movement  towards  independence, 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  instructed  the  several  States 
to  institute  governments  of  their  own,  they  left  each  State  to 
decide  for  itself  the  conditions  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  elective 
franchise.  During  the  period  of  the  Confederacy,  there  con 
tinued  to  exist  a  very  great  diversity  in  the  qualifications  of 
electors  in  the  several  States ;  and  even  within  a  State  a  dis 
tinction  of  qualifications  prevailed  with  regard  to  the  officers 
who  were  to  be  chosen.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  recognizes  these  diversities  when  it  enjoins  that,  in  the 
choice  of  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States,  '  the  electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  quali 
fications  requisite  for  electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of 
the  State  Legislature.'  After  the  formation  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  it  remained,  as  before,  the  uniform  usage  for  each  State 
to  enlarge  the  body  of  its  electors,  according  to  its  own 
judgment ;  and,  under  this  system,  one  State  after  another 
has  proceeded  to  increase  the  number  of  its  electors,  until  now 
universal  suffrage,  or  something  very  near  it.  is  the  general 
rule.  So  fixed  was  this  reservation  of  power  in  the  habits  o! 


JOHNSON'S  FIRST  MESSAGE.  383 

the  people,  and  so  unquestioned  has  been  the  interpretation 
of  the  Constitution,  that  during  the  civil  war  the  late  Presi 
dent  never  harbored  the  purpose — certainly  never  avowed  the 
purpose — of  disregarding  it ;  and  in  the  acts  of  Congress, 
during  that  period,  nothing  can  be  found  which,  during  the 
continuance  of  hostilities,  much  less  after  their  close,  would 
have  sanctioned  any  departure  by  the  Executive  from  a  policy 
which  has  so  uniformly  obtained.  Moreover,  a  concession  of 
the  elective  franchise  to  the  freedmen,  by  act  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  must  have  been  extended  to  all  colored 
men,  wherever  found,  and  so  must  have  established  a  change 
of  suffrage  in  the  Northern,  Middle  and  "Western  States,  not 
less  than  in  the  Southern  and  Southwestern.  Such  an  act 
would  have  created  a  new  class  of  voters,  and  would  have 
been  an  assumption  of  power  by  the  President  which  nothing 
in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States  would  have 
warranted. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  every  danger  of  conflict  is  avoided 
when  the  settlement  of  the  question  is  referred  to  the  several 
States.  They  can,  each  for  itself,  decide  on  the  measure,  and 
whether  it  is  to  be  adopted  at  once  and  absolutely,  or  intro 
duced  gradually  and  with  conditions.  In  my  judgment,  the 
freedmen,  if  they  show  patience  and  manly  virtues,  will  sooner 
obtain  a  participation  in  the  elective  franchise  through  the 
States  than  through  the  General  Government,  even  if  it  had 
power  to  intervene.  When  the  tumult  of  emotions  that  have 
been  raised  by  the  suddenness  of  the  social  change  shall  have 
subsided,  it  may  prove  that  they  will  receive  the  kindliest 
usage  from  some  of  those  on  whom  they  have  heretofore  most 
closely  depended. 

"  But  while  I  have  no  doubt  that  now,  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  it  is  not  competent  for  the  General  Government  to 
extend  the  elective  franchise  in  the  several  States,  it  is  equally 
clear  that  good  faith  requires  the  security  of  the  freedmen  in 
their  liberty  and  their  property,  their  right  to  labor,  and  their 
right  to  claim  the  just  return  of  their  labor.  I  cannot  too 
strongly  urge  a  dispassionate  treatment  of  this  subject,  which 
should  be  carefully  kept  aloof  from  all  party  strife.  We  must 
equally  avoid  hasty  assumptions'  of  any  natural  impossibility 
for  the  two  races  to  live  side  by  side  in  a  state  of  mutual 
benefit  and  good  will.  The  experiment  involves  us  in  no 
inconsistency ;  Jet  us,  then,  go  on  and  make  that  experiment  in 
good  faith,  and  not  be  too  easily  disheartened.  The  country 
is  in  need  of  labor,  and  the  freedmen  are  in  need  of  employ 
ment,  culture  and  protection.  While  their  right  of  voluntary 


384     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

migration  and  expatriation  is  not  to  be  questioned,  I  would 
not  advise  their  forced  removal  and  colonization.  Let  us 
rather  encourage  them  to  honorable  and  useful  industry,  where 
it  may  be  beneficial  to  themselves  and  to  the  country  ;  and, 
instead  of  hasty  anticipations  of  the  certainty  of  failure,  let 
there  be  nothing  wanting  to  the  fair  trial  of  the  experiment. 
The  change  in  their  condition  is  the  substitution  of  labor  by 
contract  for  the  status  of  slavery.  The  freedman  cannot  fairly 
be  accused  of  unwillingness  to  work,  so  long  as  a  doubt 
remains  about  his  freedom  of  choice  in  his  pursuits,  and  the 
certainty  of  his  recovering  his  stipulated  wages.  In  this  the 
interests  of  the  employer  and  the  employed  coincide.  The 
employer  desires  in  his  workmen  spirit  and  alacrity,  and  these 
can  be  permanently  secured  in  no  other  way.  And  if  the  one 
ought  to  be  able  to  enforce  the  contract,  so  ought  the  other. 
The  public  interest  will  be  best  promoted  if  the  several  States 
will  provide  adequate  protection  and  remedies  for  the  freed- 
men.  Until  this  is  in  some  way  accomplished  there  is  no 
chance  for  the  advantageous  use  of  their  labor ;  and  the  blame 
of  ill  success  will  not  rest  on  them. 

"  I  know  that  sincere  philanthropy  is  earnest  for  the  imme 
diate  realization  of  its  remotest  aims  ;  but  time  is  always  an 
element  in  reform.  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  acts  on  record  to 
have  brought  four  millions  of  people  into  freedom.  The  career 
of  free  industry  must  be  fairly  opened  to  them ;  and  then 
their  future  prosperity  and  condition  must,  after  all,  rest 
mainly  on  themselves.  If  they  fail,  and  so  perish  away,  let 
us  be  careful  that  the  failure  shall  not  be  attributable  to  any 
denial  of  justice.  In  all  that  relates  to  the  destiny  of  the 
f reedmen  we  need  not  be  too  anxious  to  read  the  future ;  many 
incidents  which,  from  a  speculative  point  of  view,  might  raise 
alarm  will  quietly  settle  themselves. 

"  Now  that  slavery  is  at  an  end  or  near  its  end,  the  great 
ness  of  its  evil,  in  the  point  of  view  of  public  economy, 
becomes  more  and  more  apparent.  Slavery  was  essentially  a 
monopoly  of  labor,  and  as  such  locked  the  States  where  it 
prevailed  against  the  incoming  of  free  industry.  Where  labor 
was  the  property  of  the  capitalist,  the  white  man  was  excluded 
from  employment,  or  had  but  the  second  best  chance  of  find 
ing  it ;  and  the  foreign  emigrant  turned  away  from  the  region 
where  his  condition  would  be  so  precarious.  With  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  monopoly,  free  labor  will  hasten  from  all  parts  of 
the  civilized  world  to  assist  in  developing  various  and  immeas 
urable  resources  which  have  hitherto  lain  dormant.  The  eight 
or  nine  States  nearest  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  have  a  soil  of  exu- 


NEGRO    SUFFRAGE.  385 

berant  fertility,  a  climate  friendly  to  long  life,  and  can  sustain 
a  denser  population  than  is  found  as  yet  in  any  part  of  our 
country.  And  the  future  influx  of  population  to  them  will  be 
mainly  from  the  North,  or  from  the  most  cultivated  nations  in 
Europe.  From  the  sufferings  that  have  attended  them  during 
our  late  struggle  let  us  look  away  to  the  future,  which  is  sure 
to  be  laden  for  them  with  greater  prosperity  than  has  ever 
before  been  known.  The  removal  of  the  monopoly  of  slave 
labor  is  a  pledge  that  those  regions  will  be  peopled  by  a  numer 
ous  and  enterprising  population,  which  will  vie  with  any  in 
the  Union  in  compactness,  inventive  genius,  wealth,  and 
industry." 

These  patriotic  and  statesmanlike  views  were  supposed  to 
be  in  harmony  with  those  which  had  been  entertained  by  Mr. 
Lincoln.  They  were  approved  by  all  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  of  which  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  James  Harlan,  James 
Speed  and  William  Dennison  were  members ;  and  as  far  as 
could  be  judged  from  the  general  tone  of  the  press  by  a  very 
large  majority  of  the  people  irrespective  of  party.  A  change 
took  place  in  the  sentiment  of  Republicans  as  soon  as  it  was 
discovered  that  the  President  and  Congress  were  not  to  work 
together  harmoniously,  and  the  opinion  became  general  in  the 
Republican  party  that  without  the  ballot  the  recent  slaves 
would  be  only  nominally  free  ;  that  by  the  ballot  alone  could 
their  emancipation  be  made  certain.  Whether  the  condition 
of  the  colored  people  of  the  South  has  been  improved  by  their 
possession  of  the  elective  franchise,  bestowed  as  it  was  by 
Congress,  is  still,  I  think  an  open  question.  Many  are  of  the 
opinion  (and  I  am  one  of  the  number)  that  it  would  have  been 
better  for  them  and  for  the  whole  country  if  the  suffrage 
question  had  been  left  to  the  States — where  it  properly 
belonged — that  the  enfranchisement  of  people  recently  in  ser 
vitude,  ignorant  and  degraded  as  they  were,  should  have  been 
made  dependent  upon  their  ability  to  execute  the  franchise 
intelligently.  That  emigrants  from  Europe,  destitute  of  the 
knowledge  which  ought  to  be  regarded  as  essential  for  the 
proper  use  of  the  ballot,  have  caused  a  dangerous  degradation  of 
25 


386     MEX  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  elective  franchise,  and  that  this  danger  has  been  increased 
by  the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  the  recent  slaves,  cannot 
be  gainsaid.  The  experiment  of  manhood  suffrage  is  one  of 
momentous  importance.  It  certainly  is  not  working  well  in 
our  large  cities.  What  will  be  its  result  when  the  whole 
country  becomes  densely  settled,  is  among  the  uncertainties  of 
the  future  which  cannot  be  contemplated  without  misgivings. 
In  concluding  this  brief  reference  to  President  Johnson's 
action  in  regard  to  the  restoration  of  the  seceded  States  to 
their  places  in  the  Union,  it  is  due  to  him  that  I  should  say 
that  in  considering  the  constitutional  questions  involved,  he 
was  guided  by  his  Attorney-General,  Henry  Stanbery,  one 
of  the  most  accomplished  lawyers  of  the  day,  and  second  to 
none  in  sound  judgment  and  in  personal  integrity  and  honor./ 
The  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  different  depart 
ments  of  the  Government  was  left  by  the  President,  as  it  had 
been  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  their  respective  heads,  and  it  was  not 
often  that  any  Cabinet  member  presented  at  the  Cabinet 
meetings  a  departmental  subject  for  consideration  or  advice. 
The  only  question  upon  which  I  ever  asked  the  opinion  of 
the  President  and  the  Cabinet  was  in  regard  the  appointment 
to  the  revenue  offices  in  the  Southern  States  of  men  who  could 
not  take  the  iron-clad  oath  to  which  I  have  already  referred. 
There  were,  however,  some  questions  of  an  important  charac 
ter  which  were  not  departmental,  and  these  were  considered 
at  Cabinet  meetings.  One  was  Reconstruction ;  another,  and 
next  to  Reconstruction  one  of  the  most  interesting,  was  our 
relations  with  Mexico,  then  under  French  domination.  The 
invasion  of  Mexico  by  the  Emperor  of  the  French,  and  his 
attempt  to  establish  an  hereditary  monarchical  government 
in  that  country,  with  the  Austrian  Archduke  Maximilian  at 
its  head,  in  the  most  critical  period  of  our  civil  war,  created  a 
great  deal  of  feeling  throughout  the  Northern  States.  It  was 
not  only  in  contravention  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  that  no 
monarchical  government  should  be  established  by  foreign 


THE   MEXICAN   DIFFICULTY.  387 

arms  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  it  was  regarded  as  an 
indirect  movement  in  aid  of  the  Confederacy.  There  had 
been  diplomatic  correspondence  between  this  country  and 
France,  but  nothing  was  done  by  the  Executive  to  direct  pub 
lic  attention  to  this  important  matter  until  after  the  close  of 
the  rebellion.  In  his  first  message,  President  Johnson  referred 
to  it  in  the  following  language  :  "  The  correspondence  between 
the  United  States  and  France  in  reference  to  questions  which 
have  become  subjects  of  discussion  between  the  two  Govern 
ments,  will,  at  a  proper  time,  be  laid  before  Congress."  •  This 
was  done  soon  after,  and  it  is  enough  to  say  of  it,  that  it 
exhibited  Mr.  Seward's  \vell-known  ability  as  a  writer  and  as 
a  diplomatist,  to  the  best  advantage. 

It  was  upon  the  Mexican  question  that  the  first  difference 
arose  between  Mr.  Johnson's  Administration  and  the  general 
of  the  army.  No  sooner  had  our  civil  war  been  terminated, 
than  General  Grant  became  the  advocate  of  forcible  measures 
for  freeing  our  sister  republic  from  the  presence  of  her  ene 
mies.  He  expressed  to  the  President  and  to  Mr.  Seward  the 
opinion  that  notice  should  be  given  to  the  French  Govern 
ment  that  the  presence  of  its  army  in  Mexico  could  no  longer 
be  tolerated  by  the  United  States,  and  that  unless  it  was 
speedily  withdrawn,  the  United  States  would  be  bound,  in 
maintaining  their  well-known  policy,  to  aid  the  Mexicans  in 
expelling  them.  General  Grant  was  not  content  with  the 
frequent  and  earnest  expression  of  his  opinion  in  regard  to 
what  the  action  of  his  Government  should  be ;  he  ordered 
troops  to  the  frontier,  not  only  for  readiness  to  march  into 
Mexico  in  case  war  should  be  declared,  but  apparently  to  pro 
voke  hostilities,  and  thus  make  war  between  the  two  countries 
unavoidable.  Mr.  Seward's  views,  which  were  in  harmony 
with  those  of  the  President  and  the  President's  other  advisers, 
were  in  accord  with  those  of  General  Grant,  that  the  presence 
of  French  troops  was  not  only  a  continuance  of  wanton 
aggression  against  Mexico,  but  a  defiance  of  the  well-known 


388     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

doctrine  of  the  United  States  that  monarchy  should  not  be 
established  by  foreign  powers  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
His  views  had  been  forcibly  presented  to  the  French  Govern 
ment,  and  he  had  reason  to  suppose  that  they  were  receiving- 
respectful  consideration.  While  endeavoring  to  effect  the 
withdrawal  of  the  French  from  Mexico  by  diplomacy,  he 
thought,  of  course,  that  menaces  should  be  avoided,  and  that 
force  should  not  be  resorted  to.  The  statesman  was  much 
wiser  than  the  soldier.  Mr.  Seward  knew  that  the  invasion 
of  Mexico  had  been  in  the  interests  of  the  Confederate  States, 
the  independence  of  which,  and  the  breaking  up  of  the  great 
republic,  had  been  hopefully,  if  not  confidently  expected  by 
France  as  well  as  by  England,  and  that  the  success  of  the  Gov 
ernment  in  its  war  for  self-preservation  had  made  it  abortive. 
He  knew  that  the  invasion  of  Mexico  had  never  been  popular 
with  the  French  people,  and  that,  as  it  was  burdensome  upon 
their  treasury  without  reflecting  glory  upon  the  French  arms, 
it  was  becoming  odious  to  them.  He  knew  also  that  the 
French  people  cared  nothing  for  Mexico,  but  that  they  did 
care  for  the  honor  of  their  flag,  and  that  war  in  which  renown 
might  be  won  was  what  Napoleon  the  Emperor  needed  to 
repair  the  blunder  he  had  made  in  placing,  at  the  expense  of 
France,  an  Austrian  prince  upon  the  throne  of  Mexico.  It 
was  therefore  very  clear  to  the  mind  of  Mr.  Seward  that  all 
that  was  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  secure 
the  removal  of  the  French  was  peace  and  time. 

But  this  was  not  all.  Mr.  Seward  perceived,  what  General 
Grant  lost  sight  of,  that  an  attempt  to  expel  forcibly  the 
French  from  Mexico  might  mea.n,  not  war  between  the 
United,  but  the  disunited  States,  and  one  of  the  most  powerful 
nations  of  Europe.  The  Confederates  had  been  beaten,  but 
they  had  not  been  restored  to  their  old  place  in  the  Union. 
Time  was  required  for  the  restoration  of  good  feeling  and 
permanent  reconstruction.  If  war  had  occurred  with  France 
in  1865  or  1866,  when  General  Grant  was  urging  such  action 


SEWAKD'S  PRUDENT  DIPLOMACY.  389 

on  the  part  of  the  Government  as  would  certainly  have  led 
to  it,  the  Confederate  States  might  have  been  again  in  arms, 
and  with  such  an  ally  as  France,  they  would  have  been  sure 
of  achieving  their  independence.  The  Government  had  no 
ships  of  war  which  could  successfully  encounter  the  ships  of 
France.  The  Northern  sea-ports  would  have  been  blockaded, 
the  Southern  ports  opened  to  the  trade  of  the  world.  The 
Federal  armies  might  not  have  beaten  in  the  field,  but  they 
would  not  have  been  long  maintained.  The  loyal  States, 
strong  as  they  were,  were  not  in  condition  for  another  sec 
tional  war,  with  France  as  ally  of  their  enemy.  A  peace  party 
would  soon  have  been  in  the  ascendant,  and  the  Union  would 
have  been  severed,  if  not  broken  into  fragments.  Many 
thousands  of  lives  would  have  been  sacrificed,  and  thousands 
of  millions  of  dollars  would  have  been  expended  in  vain.  All 
this  was  to  be  feared.  It  was  feared  by  Mr.  Seward.  It  was 
not  cowardice,  but  prudence  and  intelligent  statesmanship,  that 
dictated  the  policy  by  adherence  to  which,  the  French  army 
was  forced  out  of  Mexico,  Maximilian  left  to  his  fate,  and  the 
prestige  of  Napoleon  III.  severely  damaged.  Fortunate  was 
it  for  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  for  the  cause  of 
civil  liberty  throughout  the  world,  that  at  the  close  of  our 
great  civil  war  the  control  of  the  Government  was  not  in  the 
hands  of  a  self-confident  soldier. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Harmony  between  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  until  the  Spring  of  1866 — 
Differences  between  them  after  Veto  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill — Mr.  Denni- 
son,  Mr.  Harlan  and  Mr.  Speed  Resign — Mr.  Stanton  Holds  on  to  his  Place 
against  the  Wishes  of  the  President — The  President  Fails  to  Remove  him 
before  the  Passage  of  the  Act,  and  then  Suspends  him — The  President's 
indefensible  Extempore  Speeches — Impeachment  of  the  President — First 
Instance  in  the  History  of  Nations  of  such  a  Trial— Manner  in  which  it 
was  Conducted — The  Prosecutors — The  President's  Counsel — The  Trial  a 
Political  One — Course  Pursued  by  General  Grant — Speech  of  Mr.  Fessen- 
den — The  President  Acquitted — How  the  Vote  Stood — Mr.  Stanton 
Resigns — Disadvantages  under  which  the  President  Labored — His  Mes 
sages  and  his  Vetoes — Henry  Stanbery — William  M.  Evarts — Injustice  to 
President  Johnson1  Continued  after  his  Death— Jefferson  Davis— I  Visit 
him  at  Fortress  Monroe — The  Manner  in  which  he  was  Treated — His 
Appearance — Never  Brought  to  Trial — Mr.  Johnson  Elected  United  States 
Senator  in  1875 — His  Death  after  Serving  a  Single  Term. 

UNTIL  the  spring  of  1860,  a  year  after  Mr.  Johnson  became 
President,  there  was  entire  harmony  between  him  and 
his  Cabinet.  In  the  work  of  restoring  the  relations  between  the 
Government  and  the  States  which  had  attempted  to  secede 
from  the  Union,  which  work  was  taken  up  where  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  left  it,  and  which  was  being  prosecuted  on  the  same  line, 
they  were  a  unit.  No  objection  was  raised  even  to  that  part 
of  the  President's  first  message  which  treated  of  the  suffrage 
question  by  any  member  of  the  Cabinet.  It  was  in  fact 
approved  by  all,  and  by  none  more  heartily  than  by  Mr. 
Stanton.  A  change  took  place  soon  after  the  Civil  Rights 
bill  became  a  law  over  the  President's  veto,  and  bitter  con 
troversy  arose  between  the  President  and  Congress.  In  this 
controversy,  and  at  its  commencement,  Mr.  Dennison  and 
Mr.  Ilarlan  sided  with  Congress  and  tendered  their  resigna 
tions,  which  were  very  reluctantly  accepted.  They  resigned 
because  they  could  not  heartily  sustain  the  President,  but 


JOHNSON'S  INDECISION.  391 

there  was  no  breach  of  the  social  relations  which  had  existed 
between  them.  Mr.  Speed  soon  after  followed  the  example  of 
Dennison  and  Ilarlan.  Mr.  Stanton  also  sided  with  Congress, 
but  he  did  not  resign.  He  was  advised  by  prominent  political 
and  personal  friends  to  "  stick,"  and  he  did  so,  contrary  to  all 
precedent  and  in  opposition  to  the  judgment  of  conservative 
men  of  his  party.  Instead  of  following  the  example  of  his 
associates,  who  resigned  when  they  could  no  longer  give  to 
the  President  a  hearty  support,  he  held  on  to  his  place.  He 
attended  the  Cabinet  meetings,  not  as  an  adviser  of  the  Presi 
dent,  but  as  an  opponent  of  the  policy  to  which  he  had  himself 
been  committed,  and  the  President  lacked  the  nerve  to  dismiss 
him.  The  failure  of  the  President  to  exercise  his  undoubted 
right  to  rid  himself  of  a  minister  who  differed  with  him  upon 
very  important  questions,  who  had  become  personally  obnox 
ious  to  him,  and  whom  he  regarded  as  an  enemy  and  a  spy, 
was  a  blunder  for  which  there  was  no  excuse. 

In  this  crisis  of  his  political  life,  Mr.  Johnson  exhibited  a 
want  of  spirit  and  decision  which  astonished  those  who  were 
familiar  with  his  antecedents.  He  knew  when  the  Tenure-of- 
Ottice  Bill  was  before  Congress  that  the  object  of  its  leading 
supporters  was  to  tie  his  hands,  and  yet  he  refrained  from 
using  them  when  they  were  free.  For  the  first  time  in  his 
life  he  manifested  indecision  and  weakness,  and  when  he  did 
act,  he  acted  unwisely.  He  retained  Mr.  Stanton  in  his  Cabi 
net  when  his  right  to  remove  him  was  unquestionable.  He 
suspended  him  after  the  Tenure-of-Office  Bill  had  become  a 
law,  and  in  accordance  with  its  provisions ;  and  when  the  Sen 
ate  refused  to  approve  of  the  suspension,  he  issued  orders  for 
his  removal  and  the  appointment  of  Lorenzo  Thomas  to  be 
Secretary  of  War  ad  interim,.  If  he  had  tried  to  give  to  his 
enemies  an  advantage  over  him,  to  furnish  them  with  weaj> 

ons  for  his  own  discomfiture,  he  could  not  have  done  it  more 

\ 

effectually.  In  suspending  Mr.  Stanton,  the  President  did 
not,  however,  mean  to  acknowledge  the  validity  of  the  Ten- 


392     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ure  of-Office  Act  as  applicable  to  members  of  his  Cabinet. 
His  object  was  to  free  himself  from  a  minister  whom  he  could 
no  longer  trust  as  an  adviser,  and  he  hoped  that  the  suspen 
sion  would  be  approved,  and  that  a  wider  breach  between 
himself  and  the  Senate  might  thus  be  avoided.  He  had, 
however,  resolved  that  whatever  might  be  the  action  of  the 
Senate,  he  would,  if  he  could,  prevent  Mr.  Stanton  from  con 
tinuing  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  War  and  one  of 
his  constitutional  advisers,  until  his  authority  to  suspend  or 
remove  him  had  been  determined  by  the  courts,  and  he  would 
therefore  have  acted  more  wisely  if  he  had  removed  Mr.  Stan- 
ton  in  the  first  place.  By  suspending  him,  and  issuing  an 
order  for  his  removal  after  he  had  failed  to  accomplish  his 
object  by  suspending  him,  he  subjected  himself  to  the  charge 
of  violating  a  law  the  validity  of  which  he  had  practically 
recognized.  If  he  had  removed  Mr.  Stanton  instead  of  sus 
pending  him,  and  justified  his  action  on  the  ground  that  his 
control  of  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  was  a  constitutional 
right  of  which  he  could  not  be  deprived  by  Congress,  he 
probably  would  not  have  been  impeached.  The  gist  of  the 
charges  against  him  was  that  he  had  violated  a  law  of  Con 
gress  in  removing  Mr.  Stanton,  or  issuing  an  order  for  his  re 
moval,  after  the  Senate  had  refused  to  sanction  his  suspension. 
In  the  articles  of  impeachment  there  were  other  charges 
against  the  President,  the  most  serious  of  which  were  that  he 
had  delivered  intemperate,  inflammatory  speeches,  which  were 
intended  to  bring  into  contempt  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  and  duly  enacted  laws.  The  speeches  made  by  the 
President  in  Cleveland,  St.  Louis,  and  other  places  in  August 
and  September,  1866 — in  fact,  all  his  public  addresses  during 
his  contest  with  Congress — were  in  the  worst  possible  taste, 
derogatory  to  himself  and  to  his  high  position;  but  they 
could  not  be  properly  regarded  as  criminal.  All  that  could 
be  said  in  extenuation  of  them  was  that  they  were  extempore, 
and  were  delivered  after  he  had  been  the  object  of  bitter  and 


HIS   INDISCKEET   SPEECHES.  393 

unprovoked  attack  by  members  of  Congress.  They  were  the 
kind  of  speeches  that  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  making  in 
fighting  his  way  up  step  by  step  from  the  tailor's  bench  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States ;  such  as  lie  could  not  help 
making  when  his  war  spirit  wras  aroused.  The  first  that  he 
made  after  he  became  President  was  in  February,  1866.  Hav 
ing  seen  by  the  morning  papers  that  he  was  to  be  called  upon 
bv  citizens  of  the  District  and  others,  who  desired  to  express 
their  confidence  in  him,  and  their  sympathy  with  him  in  his 
contest  with  Congress,  which  was  then  just  commencing,  I 
went  to  the  "White  House,  and  advised  him  not  to  make  a 
speech.  I  feared  that  if  he  did  he  would  say  things  which 
would  widen  the  party  breach,  and  which  he  and  his  friends 
might  have  reason  to  be  sorry  for.  I  said  this  to  him  plainly. 
u  Don't  be  troubled,  Mr.  Secretary,"  he  replied.  "  I  have  not 
thought  of  making  a  speech,  and  I  sha'n't  make  one.  If  my 
friends  come  to  see  me,  I  shall  thank  them  and  that's  all." 
Such,  I  am  sure,  was  his  intention.  But  the  crowd  was  large 
and  noisy  ;  they  shouted  when  he  made  his  appearance ;  the 
shouts  became  louder  and  more  emphatic  when  he  commenced 
speaking.  His  wise  resolution  was  forgotten — his  combative- 
ness  was  aroused — and  he  made  such  a  speech  as  no  President 
could  make  without  suffering  in  the  estimation  of  thought 
ful  men.  It  was  a  type  of  all  his  offhand  public  addresses. 
They  were  all  bad  in  substance,  bad  in  language,  bad  in  style ; 
the  very  opposite  of  his  messages  and  other  communications 
to  Congress,  which  are  scarcely  inferior  in  any  respect  to  the 
best  that  have  been  issued  from  the  Executive  Mansion.  For 
tunate  is  it  for  Mr.  Johnson  that  he  is  hereafter  to  be  judged 
by  his  public  acts,  his  carefully  prepared  speeches  in  Congress, 
and  his  official  papers. 

The  extempore  addresses  to  which  I  have  referred, 
although  utterly  unbecoming  a  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  in  all  respects  bad,  did  not  constitute  good  ground 
for  his  impeachment ;  and  this  was  the  opinion  of  the  House, 


394  MEN   AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

which  in  January,  1867,  after  they  were  made,  refused  to 
impeach  him  by  the  decisive  vote  of  108  to  57.  Other  causes 
for  his  impeachment  were  subsequently  sought  for.  His  bank 
account  was  examined.  His  private  conduct  in  Washington 
was  carefully  scrutinized.  Men  Avere  employed  to  investigate 
his  public  and  private  character  in  Tennessee,  but  nothing- 
was  found  to  his  discredit.  There  were  few  public  men  whose 
characters  and  conduct  would  have  sustained  as  severe  a 
scrutiny  as  Mr.  Johnson's  were  subjected  to  in  1867.  Nothing 
Avas  found  to  justify  his  impeachment  but  the  order  which  he 
issued  for  the  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton  and  his  appointment  of 
General  Thomas  to  be  Secretary  of  the  War  Department  ad 
interim  after  the  Senate  had  refused  to  sanction  Mr.  Stanton's 
suspension. 

There  are,  I  apprehend,  very  few  if  any  of  the  Senators 
now  living  who,  in  the  spring  of  1868,  A^oted  that  the  Presi 
dent,  by  these  acts,  was  guilty  of  high  crimes  and  misde 
meanors,  who  can  now  look  back  upon  their  votes  with  satis 
faction.  The  President  thought  that  he  had  the  right  to 
remove  any  member  of  his  Cabinet,  and  that  it  was  not  only 
his  right  but  his  duty  to  remove  one  Avho  had  become  obnox 
ious  to  him,  and  with  Avhom  he  could  have  no  consultations. 
A  majority  of  the  members  of  Congress  entertained  the  opin 
ion  that  the  President  could  not  remove  a  member  of  his  Cab 
inet,  no  matter  how  objectionable  he  might  be,  without  the 
consent  of  the  Senate.  In  this  conflict  of  opinion  the  Presi 
dent  Avas  clearly  right,  and  Congress  clearly  Avrong ;  and  }ret 
but  for  the  independence  and  firmness  of  seven  Republican 
senators,  the  President  Avould  have  been  found  and  declared 
to  be  guilty,  and  been  dismissed  from  his  high  office.  Fortu 
nate  Avas  it  for  the  national  honor  that  these  senators  would 
not  permit  their  fealty  to  their  party  to  influence  their  judg 
ment  and  control  their  actions  in  this  interesting  trial. 

When  the  Tenure-of-Office  bill  Avas  under  consideration 
in  the  Senate,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  Republican 


THE  REMOVAL  OF  STANTON.  395 

senators  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  bill,  if  it  became  a 
law,  would  not  prevent  the  present  President  from  removing 
the  Secretary  of  War,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  the  Sec 
retary  of  State,  and  then  went  on  to  say :  "  If  I  supposed  that 
either  of  these  gentlemen  was  so  wanting  in  manhood,  in 
honor,  as  to  hold  his  place  after  the  politest  intimation  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States  that  his  services  were  no  longer 
needed,  I  certainly,  as  a  senator,  would  consent  to  his  removal 
at  any  time,  and  so  would  we  all ; " '  and  yet  this  senator  in 
a  little  more  than  a  year  after  this  utterance,  voted  with  a 
majority  of  the  senators  that  the  President  was  guilty  as 
charged  in  the  articles  of  impeachment — the  only  charge 
worthy  of  consideration  being  the  removal  of  Mr.  Stanton, 
who  had  peremptorily  refused  to  resign,  and  the  appointment 
of  General  Thomas  to  act  as  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim.  It 
is  true  that  the  senator,  in  the  opinion  which  he  delivered  in 
explanation  of  the  vote  which  he  was  about  to  give,  admitted 
and  proved  by  an  argument  of  remarkable  clearness  and  force 
that  the  President  had  the  constitutional  right  to  remove  his 
Cabinet  officers,  and  asserted  that  Congress  had  not  under 
taken  to  deprive  him  of  that  right;  but  he  contended  that 
the  law  had  been  violated  by  the  appointment  of  General 
Thomas  to  be  Secretary  of  AVar,  and  that  by  this  act,  the 
President  was  guilty  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors.  That 
this  position  was  untenable  was  clearly  shown  by  Senator 
Fessenden  and  other  senators.  General  Thomas  was  not 
appointed  Secretary ;  he  was  merely  authorized  to  act  as 
such  Secretary  ad  interim.  If  the  President  was  authorized 
to  remove  Mr.  Stanton,  and  if  by  that  removal  the  office 
became  vacant,  it  was  not  only  the  right  but  the  duty  of  the 
President  to  appoint  some  one  to  perform  the  duties  of  the 
office  temporarily.  In  doing  it,  he  did  what  had  been  repeat 
edly  done  by  his  predecessors.  The  heads  of  the  Govern 
ment  departments  are  the  ministers  of  the  President,  upon 
whom  he  can  call  for  advice  and  assistance  in  the  discharge  of 


396  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

his  difficult  and  manifold  duties,  and  for  whose  acts  he  is,  in 
the  public  estimation,  responsible.  They  are  a  part  of  the 
Executive  Government,  of  which  he  is  the  head,  and  conse 
quently  they  ought  to  be  under  his  control.  The  denial  of 
the  right  of  a  President  to  remove  a  member  whose  views 
upon  important  questions  are  not  in  harmony  with  his  own— 
who  may  be  using  the  influence  of  his  position  to  thwart  the 
execution  of  measures  which  he,  the  head  of  the  Government, 
regards  as  being  important  to  the  public  welfare — is  a  denial 
of  the  power  which  is  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  an 
independent  and  efficient  executive. 

It  was  for  this  right  that  Mr.  Johnson  contended.  Mr. 
Stanton  had  ceased  to  be  a  minister  upon  whom  he  could  call 
for  advice,  or  with  whom  he  could  hold  counsel.  He  was  at 
the  head  of  one  of  the  great  departments,  and  at  the  same 
time  was  avowedly  hostile  to  the  Reconstruction  policy  of  the 
Executive.  It  therefore  became  the  duty  of  the  President 
to  do  what  he  could  to  be  rid  of  him.  This  he  endeavored 
to  do  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Tenure-of-Office 
Act.  Unsuccessful  in  this,  he  issued  orders  for  the  removal 
of  Mr.  Stanton,  and  the  appointment  of  General  Thomas 
to  act  as  Secretary  ad  interim.  Mr.  Stanton  refused  to  sur 
render  his  office,  and,  strangely  enough,  no  way  was  discovered 
in  these  circumstances  by  which  the  right  of  the  President  to 
remove  him  could  be  presented  to  the  courts.  Mr.  Stanton 
continued  to  hold  the  office  of  Secretary,  and  the  President 
was  not  only  prevented  from  doing  what  he  thought  his  duty 
required  of  him,  but  was  charged  before  the  Senate  with  the 
commission  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors  for  attempting 
to  do  it.  The  trial  was  a  very  interesting  one,  not  only  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  but  to  the  people  of  other  coun 
tries  : — to  the  former,  because  it  threatened  a  change  in  the 
administration  of  the  government,  and  might  be  followed  by 
important  political  results  ; — to  the  latter  because  it  might  test 
the  strength  of  republican  institutions.  The  fact  that  it  was 


THE   IMPEACHMENT.  397 

conducted  without  pomp  or  display  of  military  poAver  did  not 
lessen  the  interest  which  was  felt  in  the  trial,  but  rather  gave 
character  and  dignity  to  the  proceedings.  It  was  an  arraign 
ment  of  the  highest  officer  in  the  nation  as  a  criminal  before  the 
highest  tribunal ; — of  a  man  who  three  years  before  had  been 
selected  by  the  dominant  party  for  the  second  office  in  the 
government  in  recognition  of  the  services  he  had  rendered  in 
the  preservation  of  its  integrity,  his  well-tried  loyalty,  and  his 
ability.  It  was  the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  nations  of  the 
trial  of  the  head  of  a  government  before  one  of  the  branches  of 
the  law-making  power,  sitting  as  a  judicial  tribunal,  on  charges 
presented  by  another.  The  presiding  officer  was  the  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court — the  senators  of  the  respective 
States  were  the  jury — the  House  of  Representatives  the  pros 
ecutor.  The  managers  to  conduct  the  impeachment  for  the 
House  were  John  A.  Bingham,  George  S.  Boutwell,  James 
F.  Wilson,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Thomas  Williams,  Thaddeus 
Stevens  and  John  A.  Logan,  all  members  of  the  House,  all 
lawyers,  and  some  of  them  distinguished  in  the  profession. 
The  President  entered  his  appearance  by  Henry  Stanbery, 
Benjamin  K.  Curtis,  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  William  M.  Evarts, 
and  Thomas  A.  K.  Nelson.  William  S.  Groesbeck,  in  the 
course  of  the  trial,  appeared  and  took  part  as  counsel  for  the 
President  in  place  of  Mr.  Black.  The  case,  as  I  have  said,  was 
an  exceedingly  interesting  and  important  one  and  the  counsel 
on  both  sides  were  in  keeping  with  the  case.  There  was  but 
one  drawback  upon  the  grandeur  of  the  trial,  but  this  was  a 
very  serious  one — it  was  not  an  impartial  trial.  Each  sena 
tor  had  sworn  that  in  all  things  appertaining  to  the  trial 
of  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States,  he  would 
do  impartial  justice  according  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws.  It  is  undenirMe  that  when  this  oath  was  taken,  a 
majority  of  the  senators  were  not  prepared  to  do  impartial 
justice  to  the  accused.  According  to  the  records,  the  Presi 
dent  was  tried  on  the  charges  contained  in  the  Articles  of 


398  MEN   AXD    MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

% 

Impeachment.  He  was,  in  fact,  tried  as  a  political  offender. 
His  offence  was,  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  senators,  "that 
he  had  abandoned  the  party  which  had  intrusted  him  with 
power."  It  was  well  understood  before  a  document  had  been 
presented,  or  a  witness  had  been  examined,  how  most  of  the 
senators  would  vote.  The  President  was  impeached  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  about  such  a  change  in  the  -Administra 
tion  as  would  harmonize  the  Executive  and  Legislative 
branches  of  the  Government.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  trial  in  which 
senators  were  expected  to  be  governed  by  their  party  allegi 
ance  rather  than  their  oaths  to  do  impartial  justice  according 
to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws.  Long  before  the  trial  was 
terminated,  if  not  before  it  was  commenced,  it  seemed  to  be 
well  known  that  all  but  seven  or  eight  of  the  Republican 
senators  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  President  was 
guilty,  and  that  they  would  vote  accordingly. 

The  senators  whose  votes  were  regarded  as  being  doubt 
ful  were  Fessenden,  Grimes,  Frelinghuysen,  Trumbull,  Van 
Winkle,  Fowler,  Henderson,  and  Jones ;  and  their  votes  were 
so  regarded  because  they  had  not  avowed  how  they  intended 
to  vote.  The  simple  fact  that  they  had  expressed  no  opinion 
as  to  the  innocence  or  guilt  of  the  President  led  to  apprehen 
sion  that  they  might  not  be  satisfied  that  the  charges  were 
sustained  by  the  evidence.  The  vote  of  Mr.  Frelinghuysen 
was  not,  however,  long  regarded  as  being  doubtful.  He  was 
"labored  with"  by  some  of  his  brother  senators,  and  the 
general  of  the  army,  in  his  zeal  for  the  conviction  of  the  Pres 
ident,  did  not  hesitate  to  use  his  personal  and  official  influence 
to  secure  that  result.  His  interviews  with  the  senator  were  so 
satisfactory  that  they  relieved  him  and  his  friends  from  the 
anxiety  they  had  felt  in  regard  to  the  senator's  vote.  The 
general  did  not  call  upon  either  of  the  other  senators  whose 
names  have  been  mentioned.  If  he  had,  he  might  have  met 
with  a  very  different  reception  from  that  which  he  met  with 
when  he  called  upon  Mr.  Frelinghuysen.  The  other  senators. 


FESSENDEX'S   SPEECH.  399 

were,  however,  appealed  to  by  their  associates  to  stand  by 
their  party  in  what  might  be  the  crisis  of  its  existence.  Some 
of  them  received  letters  like  those  which  were  received  by  Mr. 
Fessenden,  but  they  had  taken  an  oath,  as  he  had,  to  do  justice 
to  the  accused,  and  they  were  not  to  be  swerved  from  their 
duty  to  him  and  to  themselves  by  appeals  or  threats.  No  one 
knew  how  they  would  vote  until  they  expressed  their  opinions 
just  before  the  vote  was  taken.  They  voted  that  the  charges 
against  the  President  were  not  sustained.  By  doing  so,  they 
not  only  exhibited  their  independence  and  the  strength  of  their 
convictions,  but  they  saved  the  national  honor  from  discredit, 
and,  as  many  thought,  their  party  from  disruption.  There  are 
now,  I  think,  very  few  who  can  read  the  speech  which  Mr. 
Fessenden  made  in  explanation  and  justification  of  the  vote 
which  he  was  about  to  give,  without  being  compelled  to  admit 
that  there  was  nothing  in  the  evidence  to  warrant  senators  in 
finding  the  President  guilty  as  charged.  I  am  sure  that  no  one 
can  read  it  without  being  struck  with  its  clearness  and  force  ; 
nor  without  feelings  of  admiration  for  the  senator  himself. 
In  concluding  his  speech,  he  said : 

"  To  the  suggestion  that  popular  opinion  demands  the 
conviction  of  the  President,  I  reply  that  he  is  not  now  on  trial 
before  the  people,  but  before  the  Senate.  The  people  have 
not  heard  the  evidence  as  we  have  heard  it.  They  have  not 
taken  an  oath  to  do  impartial  justice*  according  to  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  laws.  I  have  taken  that  oath.  I  cannot 
render  judgment  upon  their  convictions,  nor  can  they  transfer 
to  themselves  my  punishment  if  I  violate  my  own.  I  should 
consider  myself  undeserving  of  the  confidence  of  that  just  and 
intelligent  people  who  imposed  upon  me  this  great  responsi 
bility,  and  unworthy  a  place  among  honorable  men,  if  for  any 
fears  of  public  reprobation,  and  for  the  sake  of  securing 
popular  favor,  I  should  disregard  the  convictions  of  my  judg 
ment  and  conscience.  The  consequences  that  may  follow 
from  conviction  or  acquittal  are  not  for  me,  with  my  convic 
tions,  to  consider.  The  future  is  in  the  hands  of  Him  who 
made  and  governs  the  universe,  and  the  fear  that  He  will  not 
govern  well  would  not  excuse  me  for  a  violation  of  His  law." 


400     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

The  speeches  of  the  other  Republican  senators  who  voted 
with  Mr.  Fessenden  were  also  pointed  and  strong — admirable 
for  their  ability  and  the  independence  which  they  displayed. 
The  speeches  of  the  senators  who  voted  that  the  President 
was  guilty  were  also  able,  but  they  breathed  throughout  a 
partisan  spirit. 

The  President  was  not  convicted,  none  of  the  articles 
presented  against  him  by  the  House  having  been  sustained  by 
two-thirds  of  the  senators.  The  senators  who  voted  "  guilty  " 
were  Messrs.  Anthony,  Cameron,  Cattell,  Chandler,  Cole, 
Conkling,  Conness,  Corbett,  Cragin,  Drake,  Edmunds,  Ferry, 
Frelinghuysen,  Harlan,  Howard,  Howe,  Morgan,  Merrill  of 
Maine,  Morrill  of  Vermont,  Morton,  Nye,  Patterson  of  Kew 
Hampshire,  Porneroy,  Ramsey,  Sherman,  Sprague,  Stewart, 
Sumner,  Thayer,  Tipton,  Wade,  Willey,  Williams,  Wilson  and 
Yates — 35. 

The  senators  who  voted  u  not  guilty  v  were  Messrs.  Bayard, 
Buckalew,  Davis,  Dixon,  Doolittle,  Fessenden,  Fowler,  Grimes, 
Henderson,  Hendricks,  Johnson,  McCreery,  Norton,  Patterson 
of  Tennessee,  Ross,x  Saulsbury,  Trumbull,  Yan  Winkle  and 
Yickers— 19. 

While  a  good  deal  of  mortification  and  chagrin  was  felt 
by  Republican  partisans  throughout  the  country,  and  especially 
in  Washington,  at  the  acquittal  of  the  President,  there  weVe 
not  a  few  who  were  relieved  by  it  of  anxious  forebodings  which 
they  had  been  unable  to  suppress  in  regard  to  the  effect  which 
his  conviction  might  have  upon  the  next  Presidential  election. 
They  knew  that  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  who,  as  the  presiding 
officer  of  the  Senate,  would  become  President  if  Mr.  Johnson 
were  found  guilty,  lacked  the  high  qualities  which  ought  to  be 
possessed  by  the  head  of  the  Government,  and  they  feared 
that  in  the  selection  of  his  Cabinet  and  in  the  use  of  the 
appointing  power  generally,  he  would  weaken  the  party  at  the 
time  when  it  ought  to  be  strong.  They  knew  that  for  every 
desirable  office  there  would  be  many  disappointed  applicants. 


STANTON'S  PEESONAL  VIEWS.  401 

who  would  be  indifferent  workers  in  the  approaching  contest. 
As  the  deposition  of  the  President  was  confidently  expected 
up  to  the  day  on  which  the  vote  was  taken,  Washington  was 
full  of  office-seekers,  a  large  part  of  whom  were  not  the  kind 
of  men  to  give  character  as  office-holders  to  an  administration 
which,  by  not  having  been  created  by  a  popular  vote,  would  be 
subjected  to  unusual  scrutiny.  It  was  quite  clear,  therefore,  to 
the  minds  of  such  men  that  nothing  would  be  gained,  and 
great  loss  might  be  sustained  by  the  party  in  power,  by  a 
change  at  that  time  and  such  manner  in  the  Executive.  They 
were  therefore  of  the  opinion — and  some  of  them  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  express  it — that  if  the  Republican  party  should  main 
tain  its  ascendency,  it  would  be  owing  to  the  votes  of  the  seven 
Republican  senators  who,  with  the  main  body  of  Democratic 
senators,  voted  that  the  President  was  not  guilty. 

In  this  whole  matter  Mr.  Stan  ton  acted  in  accordance  with 
the  wishes  of  his  party,  as  expressed  by  most  of  its  leading 
members  in  Congress,  and  in  opposition  to  his  own  opinion  as 
a  lawyer,  in  regard  to  the  constitutional  authority  of  the 
President.  lie  never  thought  that  Congress  could  deprive  the 
President  of  his  right  to  remove  civil  officers  whose  services  he 
desired  to  dispense  with.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  constitu 
tionality  of  the  Tenure-of-Office  Act.  He  had  denounced  it 
at  the  time  of  its  passage  in  the  severest  language.  He  felt 
that  he  had  placed  himself  in  a  false  position  by  denying  the 
right  of  the  President  to  remove  him  from  the  office  of  Secre 
tary  of  War  in  opposition  to  the  opinion  which  he  had  given 
to  the  President  in  writing,  and  after  his  return  to  private  life 
he  was  anxious  that  on  this  point  he  should  be  set  right.  In 
the  last  conversation  which  he  had  with  one  of  his  most 
intimate  friends,  he  said  that  although  he  had  stood  by  those 
who  had  stood  by  the  Government,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  himself 
during  the  war,  and  had  remained  in  the  Cabinet  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  wishes  of  his  chief,  he  had  never  doubted  the 
constitutional  right  of  the  President  to  remove  the  members 
26 


402     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

of  his  Cabinet  without  question  from  any  quarter  whatever. 
The  Reconstruction  measures  which  were  advocated  by  Presi 
dent  Johnson  were  the  same  that  had  been  favorably  con 
sidered  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  in  the  same  conversation  referred 
to,  Mr.  Stanton  expressed  the  opinion  that  "  if  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  lived  he  would  have  had  a  hard  time  with  his  party,  as 
he  would  have  been  at  odds  with  it  on  Reconstruction." 

Mr.  Stanton  was  a  Democrat,  and  in  full  sympathy  with 
the  South  until  the  disruption  of  the  Union  was  undertaken 
by  force.  From  that  time  he  never  faltered  in  his  allegiance 
to  the  Government,  although  at  the  commencement  of  the 
war  he  doubted  its  ability  to  maintain  its  integrity,  because 
he  then  thought  that  the  South  would  be  better  led  and  more 
united  than  the  North  ;  that  the  Confederate  Government 
would  be  subject  to  less  restrictions  than  the  United  States 
Government,  and  more  heartily  supported.  During  the  war 
his  complaint  was,  that  the  President  and  himself  were 
unnecessarily  hampered.  He  was  a  believer  in  the  rights  of 
the  States,  but  he  was  also  a  believer  in  the  rights  of  the 
Government,  and  in  the  independence  of  the  Executive,  subject 
only  to  the  supreme  law  of  the  land — the  Federal  Constitu 
tion. 

Upon  the  acquittal  of  the  President,  Mr.  Stanton  resigned 
his  office  of  Secretary  of  the  "War  Department.  His  health 
had  been  impaired  by  his  exertions  and  labors  during  the  war, 
and  he  did  not  find  rest  in  the  three  years  that  followed.  He 
died  on  the  24th  of  December.  1869,  having  made  for  himself 
a  record  for  energy,  promptness  of  decision,  practicable  ability 
and  inflexible  devotion  to  the  Government,  which  entitled 
him  to  a  very  high  rank  among  those  who  are  justly  honored 
for  their  services  when  the  national  life  was  at  stake.  He 
was  a  man  of  strong  prejudices,  hastly  formed  and  frequently 
unjust,  but  he  was  never  influenced  in  the  exercise  of  his  war 
powers  by  selfish  considerations.  He  relinquished  a  lucrative 
practice  in  the  legal  profession  to  serve  the  country  when  just 


JOHNSON   AS   PRESIDENT.  403 

such  services  as  he  was  able  to  render  were  required,  and  he 
did  serve  it  with  unfaltering  zeal  and  unremitting  industry. 
Mistakes  he  made,  and  wrongs  he  sometimes  committed  in  his 
judgment  and  treatment  of  army  officers ;  but  it  cannot  be 
truly  said  that  his  action  was  ever  prompted  by  unworthy 
motives.  He  was  a  great  war  minister,  and  his  proper  mission 
ended  at  the  end  of  the  war.  Me  would  have  been  a  happier 
man — been  more  highly  esteemed  by  his  most  judicious  friends 
— and  would  probably  have  lived  longer,  if  he  had  acted 
in  accordance  with  his  own  judgment,  and  resigned  his  office 
when  he  could  no  longer  stand  with  the  President  in  his  con 
test  with  Congress. 

Immediately  after  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Stanton,  the 
President  tendered  the  office  of  Secretary  of  War  to  General 
Schofield.  It  was  promptly  accepted,  and  from  that  time  to 
the  close  of  his  administration,  there  was  not  only  harmony  in 
the  Cabinet,  but  there  was  a  cessation  of  active  hostilities 
between  the  President  and  Congress.  Good  feeling  was  not 
restored,  but  bad  feeling  was  in  a  large  degree  repressed. 
The  only  prominent  man  whose  bitterness  against  the  Presi 
dent  was  increased  by  the  result  of  the  trial  was  General 
Grant,  who  had  used  his  personal  and  official  influence  to 
effect  a  conviction.  To  him  the  acquittal  of  the  President 
was  a  severe  disappointment;  it  was  more;  it  was  a  defeat; 
and  his  hatred  for  the  man  for  whose  deposition  he  had 
labored,  was  intensified  by  it,  and  yet  it  is  very  doubtful 
that  he  would  have  been  elected  to  the  high  place  from  which 
he  strove  to  eject  Mr.  Johnson  if  his  labors  had  been  suc 
cessful. 

In  his  administration  of  the  Government,  Mr.  Johnson 
labored  under  great  disadvantages.  He  had  been  a  Democrat, 
but  his  connection  with  the  Democratic  party  was  severed 
when  he  became  the  Republican  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presi 
dency.  He  was  disowned  by  the  Republicans  when  he  antag 
onized  the  Reconstruction  measures  of  Congress.  For  a  good 


404  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTUKY. 

part  of  his  term  he  was  President  without  a  party.  The 
Democratic  Senators  in  a  bod)7  stood  by  him  in  his  impeach 
ment  trial ;  but  they  did  so,  not  from  personal  regard,  but 
because  the  trial  was  political,  and  because  they  approved  of 
his  Reconstruction  policy,  which  was  in  harmony  with  the 
Democratic  doctrine  in  regard  to  the  constitutional  rights  of 
the  States ;  but  they  never  gave  to  him  or  to  his  administration 

*/  o 

cordial  support.  By  the  Republican  press,  and  by  some  mem 
bers  of  Congress,  he  was  denounced  as  a  traitor,  not  only  to 
his  party,  but  to  the  country.  His  services  during  the  war,  in 
recognition  of  which  he  had  been  nominated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  ;  the  bravery  which  he  had  displayed  in  his  contests 
with  the  secessionists  of  Tennessee ;  the  terrible  trials  to  which 
his  family  were  subjected  by  his  fidelity  to  the  Union,  were  all 
ignored,  buried,  forgotten.  He  was  accused  not  only  of 
political  offences,  but  of  personal  misconduct  of  which  there 
was  not  the  slightest  proof.  Unfortunately  for  himself,  such 
was  his  temperament  that  he  could  not  restrain  his  disposi 
tion  to  repel  by  intemperate  speeches  the  attacks  that  were 
made  upon  him.  He  seemed  to  forget  what  was  due  to  his 
station- — to  be  unmindful  that  he  had  been  lifted  out  of  the 
political  arena  in  which  he  had  been  so  long  a  combatant. 
Silence  in  his  case  would  have  been  wisdom ;  defence  by 
retaliatory  speeches  was  a  blunder.  He  ought  to  have  felt 
that  his  true  defence  existed  in  his  public  career  and  his 
official  record ;  and  that  sustained  by  them,  the  assaults  of  his 
enemies  would  be  harmless.  He  disagreed  with  Congress  (as 
his  predecessor  would  have  done  had  he  lived)  in  regard  to 
what  should  be  required  of  the  Southern  States  before  they 
resumed  their  places  in  the  Union  which  they  had  done  their 
best  to  destroy.  It  should  have  been  considered  an  honest 
difference  of  opinion  on  both  sides.  Congress  should  have 
been  contented  with  thwarting  his  plan  of  Reconstruction. 
He  should  have  been  content  with  the  exercise  of  his  veto. 
It  was  an  unseemly — a  disreputable — quarrel,  in  which  both 


HIS    CHARACTER.  405 

sides  were  at  fault.  He  was  not  the  aggressor,  however,  and, 
although  his  course  was  in  some  respects  indefensible,  he  little 
merited  the  obloquy  which  was  heaped  upon  him  at  the  time, 
and  which  still,  to  some  extent,  attaches  to  his  name. 

No  matter  how  unpopular  or  severely  criticised  a  man 
occupying  a  high  position  may  have  been  while  in  active  life, 
there  is  usually  a  disposition,  even  on  the  part  of  those  who 
were  the  most  hostile  to  him  to  be  generous  to  his  memory. 
This  disposition  has  not  been  manifested  in  ]\Ir.  Johnson's 
case.  It  is  not  often  that  kindly  mention  is  made  of  him  upon 
the  platform  or  in  the  press.  Among  those  who  have  filled 
high  places  with  ability,  or  rendered  distinguished  services  to 
their  country,  his  name  is  rarely  classed ;  and  yet  when  the 
history  of  the  great  events  with  which  he  was  connected  has 
been  faithfully  written,  there  will  appear  few  names  entitled 
to  greater  honor  and  respect  than  that  of  Andrew  Johnson. 
His  faults  were  patent :  he  was  incapable  of  disguise.  He 
was  a  combatant  by  temperament.  If  he  did  not  court  con 
troversy,  he  enjoyed  it.  He  rarely  tried  to  accomplish  his 
ends  by  policy  ;  when  he  did,  he  subjected  himself  to  the 
charge  of  demagogy.  In  tact  he  was  utterly  deficient,  and 
he  ran  against  snags  which  he  might  easily  have  avoided. 
Naturally  distrustful,  he  gave  his  confidence  reluctantly— 
never  without  reserve ;  he  had  therefore  few  constant  friends. 
These  peculiarities  and  defects  in  his  character  were  manifest, 
and  they  were  severe  drawbacks  upon  his  usefulness  in  public 
life.  On  the  other  hand,  he  never  cherished  animosity  after  a 
contest  was  over.  He  never  failed  in  generosity  towards  a 
defeated  foe.  He  was  brave,  honest,  truthful.  He  never 
shrank  from  danger,  disregarded  an  engagement,  or  was 
unfaithful  to  his  pledges.  His  devotion  to  the  Union  was  a 
passion.  There  was  no  sacrifice  that  he  was  not  willing  to 
make,  no  peril  that  he  was  not  willing  to  encounter  in  its 
defence.  It  was  not  mere  emotion  that  prompted  the  direc 
tion  that  the  flag  of  his  country — the  Stripes  and  Stars — should 


406     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

be  his  winding  sheet,  but  the  expression  of  his  devotion  to  the 
principles  which  it  represented.  He  was  a  kind  and  helpful 
neighbor,  a  tender  and  indulgent  father.  He  was  proud  of 
his  daughters,  and  he  had  reason  to  be,  for  they  were  devoted 
to  him ;  and  more  sensible,  unpretending  women  never  occu 
pied  the  Executive  Mansion.  In  intellectual  force  he  had  few 
superiors.  He  had,  as  has  been  stated,  no  educational  advan 
tages,  but  he  made  such  use  of  opportunities  that  he  never 
failed  to  fill  with  credit  the  various  places  which  he  held  in 
his  way  up  to  the  highest  position  in  the  Government.  The 
carefully  prepared  speeches  which  he  made  in  the  House  and 
the  Senate  chamber  in  Washington  were  always  to  the  point. 
His  messages,  except  his  vetoes,  written  by  himself,  with  no 
other  help  than  what  he  received  from  his  private  secretary, 
bear  favorable  comparison  with  the  messages  of  those  who  pre 
ceded  or  have  followed  him.  His  first  veto,  that  of  the  Civil 
Kights  bill,  was  strong  in  argument  and  admirable  in  spirit. 
Who  assisted  him  in  the  preparation  of  it  I  do  not  know ;  but 
he  must  have  had  assistance,  for  it  exhibited  a  higher  order  of 
legal  ability  than  he  possessed.  That  his  reasons  for  with 
holding  his  signature  to  that  bill  were  well  formed,  has  been 
proven  by  the  recent  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  pronounc 
ing  it  unconstitutional.  That  a  similar  decision  would  have 
been  made  on  the  Tenure-of -Office  Act,  if  the  question  had 
come  before  that  court,  is  not  now,  I  think,  denied  by  anybody 
whose  opinion  upon  a  constitutional  question  is  worth  any 
thing.  The  veto  of  this  bill,  strange  as  it  seems  in  view  of 
his  subsequent  course,  was  written  by  Mr.  Stanton.  Mr. 
Johnson's  other  vetoes  were  mainly  prepared  by  Attorney- 
General  Henry  Stanbery — whom  Mr.  Chase  pronounced  the 
most  accomplished  lawyer  of  the  day,  and  who,  in  mental 
power,  was  second  only  to  Thomas  E\ving,  at  the  Ohio  bar — 
but  they  \vere  carefully  considered  by  himself. 

Of  Mr.  Johnson's  patriotism  there  ought  not  to  have  been 
a  question,  for  he  had  given  the  highest  evidence  of  it.     He 


POPULAR   INJUSTICE   TO   HIS    MEMORY.  407 

believed  that  the  Southern  States  which  had  attempted  to 
secede  were  never  out  of  the  Union,  and  that  when  they  had 
laid  down  their  arms,  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  given  honest  pledges  of  future  loyalty,  they 
should  at  once  have  been  permitted  to  resume  their  places. 
In  this  he  may  have  been  wrong,  but  he  was  backed  by  what 
was  understood  to  be  Mr.  Lincoln's  opinion,  and  by  a  respect 
able  minority  of  the  people  of  the  North.  There  was  no 
indication  of  a  want  of  patriotism  in  this,  nor  was  there  in  any 
of  his  utterances  or  acts.  No  member  of  his  Cabinet  ever 
heard  from  him  an  expression  which  savored  of  unfaithfulness 
to  the  Constitution.  Mr.  Dennison,  Mr.  Ilarlan  and  Mr. 
Speed  resigned  their  places,  not  because  they  distrusted  him, 
but  because  they  could  not  stand  by  him  in  his  contest  with 
Congress.  Their  successors,  and  the  rest  of  the  members, 
including  Mr.  Evarts,  who  had  been  one  of  his  counsel  in  the 
impeachment  trial,  and  who  became  his  Attorney  General, 
never  had  the  slightest  reason  to  doubt  his  personal  or  his 
political  integrity,  or  his  unselfish  patriotism.  All  tfhis  can  be 
said  without  exaggeration  of  Mr.  Johnson.  No  one  that 
knew  anything  of  his  history  could  doubt  his  ability.  No  one 
could  truthfully  say  that  he  was  intemperate ;  and  yet  a 
Methodist  bishop,  a  few  years  ago,  in  a  speech  which  he  made 
at  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  in  eulogy 
of  General  Grant,  referred  to  his  predecessor  as  having  been  a 
"  drunken  imbecile ;"  and  this  expression,  shameful  and  brutal 
and  false  as  it  was,  was  listened  to  by  a  crowd  of  highly  intel 
ligent  and  respectable  people,  without  rebuke,  and  published 
in  a  religious  newspaper  without  comment.  A  distinguished 
clergyman,  in  a  historical  sermon  or  address,  recenthr 
delivered  in  Washington,  spoke  at  length  of  Tyler,  of  Fill- 
more,  of  Arthur,  of  all  the  Yice-Presidents  who  became 
Presidents  by  virtue  of  their  office  as  Vice-President,  except 
Johnson,  whose  name  was  not  even  mentioned.  And  yet 
who  can  say  that  he  served  the  country  less  faithfully  than 


408     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

they  did,  or  that  his  life-long  services  were  less  valuable  than 
theirs  ? 

The  question,  "What  shall  be  done  to  the  Confederate  lead 
ers  ?  "  was  referred  to,  but  not  discussed  at  Mr.  Lincoln's  last 
meeting  with  his  Cabinet.  Mr.  Lincoln  merely  remarked  in 
his  humorous  manner,  "  I  am  a  good  deal  like  the  Irishman 
who  had  joined  a  temperance  society,  but  thought  that  he 
might  take  a  drink  now  and  then  if  he  drank  unbeknown  to 
himself.  A  good  many  people  think  that  all  the  big  Confed 
erates  ought  to  be  arrested  and  tried  as  traitors.  Perhaps 
they  ought  to  be  ;  but  I  should  be  right  glad  if  they  would 
get  out  of  the  country  unbeknown  to  me."  This  question 
came  up  in  the  case  of  Jefferson  Davis,  soon  after  Mr.  Johnson 
became  President.  Davis  had  been  captured  while  attempt 
ing  to  escape  after  the  fall  of  Richmond,  and  was  a  prisoner 
in  close  confinement  in  Fortress  Monroe.  Some  action  must 
be  taken  in  his  case — what  should  it  be  ?  He  had  been  the 
President  of  the  Confederacy,  and  was  therefore  the  most 
conspicuous  of  the  enemies  of  the  Government.  By  a  large 
part  of  the  people  of  the  North  he  was  regarded  as  the  arch- 
traitor  upon  whose  head  vengeance  should  be  visited.  Should 
he  be  liberated  in  the  face  of  the  strong  feeling  against  him, 
or  should  he  be  arraigned  for  treason,  and  if  arraigned,  should 
he  be  tried  by  a  military  commission  or  a  United  States 
court?  These  were  interesting  and  important  questions, 
requiring  the  most  careful  consideration  both  in  their  legal 
and  political  bearing. 

The  legal  question,  Has  Mr.  Davis  been  guilty  of  such 
acts  of  treason,  that  he  can  be  successfully  prosecuted  ?  was 
submitted  to  the  Attorney  General,  who,  after  a  thorough 
examination  of  it  and  consultation  with  some  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  in  the  country,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Mr.  Davis 
could  not  be  convicted  of  treason  by  any  competent  and  inde 
pendent  tribunal,  and  that  therefore  he  ought  not  to  be  tried. 
The  conclusion  was  undoubtedly  correct.  It  was  a  revolution 


WHAT   TO    DO   WITH   DAVIS.  409 

which  had  been  attempted  by  the  Southern  States — a  general 
uprising  of  the  people  of  the  South  against  the  Government. 
It  was  war  in  which  they  had  been  engaged — war  of  such  pro 
portions  that  belligerent  rights  had  been  accorded  to  them  by 
foreign  nations.  The  same  rights  had  been  acknowledged  by 
the  Government  in  exchanges  of  prisoners  and  other  acts. 
They  could  not,  therefore,  be  charged  with  treason,  nor  could 
one  of  their  number  be  singled  out  and  legally  convicted  of 
the  crime.  Aside  from  these  considerations,  it  was  clear  that 
whatever  treasonable  acts  Mr.  Davis  might  have  been  guilty 
of,  were  committed  in  the  Southern  States,  where,  under  the 
Constitution,  the  trial  must  take  place,  and  where  conviction 
would  be  impossible.  The  President  was  chagrined  by  the 
decision,  which  was  forced  upon  him  by  the  opinions  of  the 
Attorney  General  and  other  eminent  lawyers.  It  was  in 
direct  opposition  to  his  committals  in  the  vindictive  speeches 
which  he  made  at  the  commencement  of  his  administration ; 
but  he  saw  the  correctness  of  it,  and  from  that  time  he  pushed 
his  generosity  to  those  whom  he  had  denounced  as  traitors  to 
an  extreme.  Mr.  Davis  was  only  one  of  the  many  thousands 
who  were  engaged  in  war  against  the  Government.  His  posi 
tion  made  him  the  most  conspicuous,  but  he  was  no  more 
guilty  than  many  others,  against  whom  no  proceedings  were 
contemplated.  There  was  no  evidence  that  he  was  responsible 
for  the  horrors  of  Andersonville,  or  the  general  bad  treatment 
to  which  Union  soldiers  were  subjected  in  Southern  prisons. 
He  was,  however,  kept  in  confinement  until  the  spring  of 
1867,  when  he  was  brought  before  the  United  States  Court  at 
Richmond  on  the  charge  of  treason,  and  admitted  to  bail. 
He  was  not  tried,  although  he  expressed  a  desire  to  be,  nor 
was  he  among  those  who  asked  to  be  pardoned. 

"While  the  question  was  pending,  the  President  sent  for  me 
one  day,  and  said  that  he  would  like  to  have  me  go  privately 
and  unofficially  to  Fortress  Monroe  and  ascertain  whether  or 
not  the  reports  that  had  reached  him  about  the  treatment  of 


410     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

Davis  were  true.  "  He  was,"  said  the  President,  "  the  head 
devil  among  the  traitors,  and  lie  ought  to  be  hung ;  but  he 
should  have  a  fair  trial,  and  not  be  brutally  treated  while  a 
prisoner/'  A  few  days  after  the  request  was  made  I  was  able 
to  comply  with  it.  On  my  arrival  at  the  fortress,  Mr.  Davis 
was  walking  upon  the  ramparts  accompanied  by  a  couple  of 
soldiers.  I  was  glad  to  notice  that  his  gait  was  erect,  his  step 
elastic,  and  when  he  came  up  to  where  I  was  standing,  that 
he  had  not  the  appearance  of  one  who  was  suffering  in  health 
by  imprisonment.  I  spent  an  hour  or  two  with  him  in  con 
versation.  "  I  was,1'  he  said,  "  in  the  first  two  or  three 
months  of  my  imprisonment,  treated  barbarously,  but  now  I 
am  permitted  to  have  a  daily  walk,  and  my  present  quarters, 
as  you  perceive,  are  such  as  a  prisoner  charged  with  high 
treason  ought  not  to  complain  of  " — a  cot,  a  small  pine  table, 
and  two  cane-bottomed  chairs.  The  cot  and  chairs  were  hard, 
and  of  the  plainest  and  cheapest  kind  ;  but  the  room  was  clean 
and  well  lighted.  There  was  not  much  need  of  light,  for  the 
only  book  in  the  room  was  an  old  treatise  upon  military  tac 
tics — a  subject  which  was  not  especially  interesting  to  the  pris 
oner  at  that  time,  and  in  that  place.  Newspapers  were  for 
bidden  to  him.  My  interview  was  very  pleasant.  There  have 
been  few  men  more  gifted  than  Mr.  Davis,  and  few  whose 
opportunities  for  intellectual  culture  have  been  better  improved. 
I  had  not  known  him  personally,  but  I  knew  what  his  standing 
was  among  the  able  men  of  the  country,  and  expected  to  meet 
in  him  an  accomplished  gentleman.  To  those  who  knew  him 
well,  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  say  that  I  was  not  disap 
pointed,  and  that  I  was  most  favorably  impressed  by  his  man 
ners  and  conversation.  I  was  his  first  visitor,  and  he  seemed 
to  be  pleased  with  my  visit,  and  with  the  opportunity  which  it 
gave  to  him  for  a  free  talk.  He  was  indisposed  to  say  much 
about  himself,  and  it  was  only  by  direct  questions  that  I 
learned  the  facts  in  regard  to  the  barbarous  treatment  to 
which  he  had  referred.  "I  was."  he  said,  "when  brought  to 


HIS   PRISON   TREATMENT.  411 

the  fortress,  not  only  strictly  confined  in  a  casemate,  which 
was  little  better  than  a  dungeon,  but  I  was  heavily  ironed. 
As  I  had  been  a  submissive  prisoner,  and  was  in  a  strong 
fortress,  I  thought  that  chains  were  unnecessary,  and  that  I 
ought  not  to  be  subjected  to  them.  I  resisted  being  shackled, 
but  resistance  was  vain.  I  was  thrown  violently  upon  the 
floor,  and  heavily  fettered.  This  was  not  all :  the  casemate 
in  which  I  was  confined  was  kept  constantly  and  brilliantly 
lighted,  and  I  was  never  relieved  of  the  presence  of  a  couple 
of  soldiers.  My  eyes  were  weak  and  sensitive,  I  suffered 
keenly  from  the  light,  and  you  can  judge  how  my  sufferings 
were  aggravated  by  my  not  being  permitted  for  months  to 
have  one  moment  by  myself."  I  listened  silently  to  this  state 
ment,  given  substantially  in  his  own  language ;  but  I  felt  as 
he  did,  that  he  had  for  a  time  been  barbarously  treated. 
Chains  were  unnecessary,  and  the  constant  presence  of  the 
guards  in  the  casemate  must  have  been,  to  a  sensitive  man, 
worse  than  solitary  confinement,  which  is  now  regarded  as 
being  too  inhuman  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  greatest  criminals. 
I  happened  to  know  some  of  his  personal  friends  in  the  West, 
and  he  had  a  great  deal  to  talk  about  without  saying  much 
about  himself.  He  seemed  to  be  neither  depressed  in  spirits 
nor  soured  in  temper.  He  could  not  help  saying  something 
about  the  war,  but  he  said  nothing  in  the  way  of  justification 
or  defence.  He  had  the  bearing  of  a  brave  and  high-bred 
gentleman,  who,  knowing  that  he  would,  have  been  highly 
honored  if  the  Confederate  States  had  achieved  their  inde 
pendence,  would  not  and  could  not  demean  himself  as  a  crimi 
nal  because  they  had  not.  The  only  anxiety  he  expressed 
was  in  regard  to  his  trial,  not  as  to  the  result,  but  the  time. 
He  thought  the  delay  unnecessary  and  unjust.  He  was  kept 
in  prison  for  two  years  before  he  was  arraigned,  and  released 
on  bail ;  and,  strangely  enough,  Horace  Greeley  and  Gerrit 
Smith,  the  distinguished  abolitionists,  were  among  the  signers 
of  his  bond. 


412  ME1ST   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

On  my  return  to  Washington,  I  made  a  verbal  report  to 
the  President  of  the  manner  in  which  Mr.  Davis  was  then 
being  treated.  No  executive  action  was  considered  necessary 
in  his  behalf,  and  nothing  was  done  in  his  prosecution  except 
what  has  been  mentioned. 

Henry  Stanbery  resigned  the  office  of  Attorney  General, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  impeachment  trial,  to  become 
one  of  the  President's  counsel.  His  health,  never  perfect,  had 
been  impaired  by  his  labors  and  anxieties  during  the  trial, 
and  after  the  President's  acquittal,  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty 
to  decline  re-appointment.  Mr.  William  M.  Evarts  was 
appointed  Attorney  General,  and  the  end  of  Mr.  Johnson's 
administration  was  peaceful.  Strong  as  was  the  popular 
prejudice  against  him  during  the  most  of  his  presidential 
career,  he  never  lost  the  confidence  and  respect  of  those  who 
knew  him  best.  His  hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people 
of  Tennessee  was  never  lost.  He  was  elected  United  States 
Senator  in  1875,  and  respectfully  and  kindly  treated  by  even 
those  senators  who  a  few  years  before,  under  political  press 
ure,  had  denounced  him  as  a  criminal.  He  did  not  long 
enjoy  his  new  honor.  He  died  after  serving  a  single  session. 
He  was  buried  in  the  State  which  had  conferred  high  honors 
upon  him,  and  which  he  had  honored  in  return  by  his  ability 
and  his  devotion  to  what  he  considered  his  duty  to  her  and 
the  country. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Presidential  Election  of  1876 — Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  and  William  A. 
Wheeler  nominated  by  the  Republicans— Samuel  J.  Tilden,  and  Thomas 
A.  Hendricks  by  the  Democrats — Brief  Sketch  of  the  Nominees — The 
Canvass  a  vigorous  One — First  Reports  favorable  to  the  Democrats— 
The  Result  uncertain — Great  Anxiety  and  Apprehension  throughout  the 
Country — The  Commission  Appointed  to  Determine  the  Result — Hayes 
and  Wheeler  Declared  to  be  Elected — Remarks  of  the  President  of  the 
Union  Telegraph  Company — My  Own  Opinion  of  the  Election — Hayes's 
Administration  a  creditable  one. 


T 


HE  Presidential  election  of  1876  was  contested  with  great 
vigor  on  both  sides.     Rutherford  B.  Haves,  the  nominee 

O  v 

of  the  Republican  party  for  President,  had  done  good  service 
in  the  array,  and  as  the  candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio  in 
1875,  had  led  the  party  to  victory  when  financial  questions 
were  the  main  subjects  for  discussion.  William  A.  Wheeler, 
the  nominee  for  Vice-President,  was  a  man  of  a  high  order  of 
ability,  who  had  acquired  distinction  in  Congress.  The  ticket 
was  a  strong  and  popular  one.  Mr.  Hayes  was  not  the  first 
choice  of  his  party,  but  it  was  thoroughly  united  by  his  nomi 
nation.  It  had,  however,  been  shorn  of  a  good  deal  of  its 
strength  during  General  Grant's  second  term.  It  had  lost  the 
control  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  it  held  the 
mastery  in  the  Senate  and  retained  a  good  deal  of  the  pres 
tige  which  it  had  acquired  during  the  war.  It  was  still  confi 
dent  and  aggressive.  The  Democratic  party  was  especially 
sagacious  in  the  selection  of  its  candidates.  Of  its  nominee 
for  Vice-President,  Thomas  A.  Hendricks.  I  have  alreadv 
spoken.  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the  nominee  for  President,  was  a 
man  of  distinguished  ability  in  his  profession.  "  He  is,"  said 
Henry  Stanbery  to  me,  in  1864,  "the  ablest  corporation  law 
yer  in  the  United  States."  The  consolidation  of  the  Ohio  and 


414  MEN   AXD    MEASURES   OF   HALF    A   CENTUKY. 

Pennsylvania,  the  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  the  Fort  Wayne  and 
Chicago  railroads  into  the  great  trunk  line,  the  Pittsburgh, 
Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago,  was,  as  far  as  all  legal  questions 
were  involved,  his  work.  The  three  roads  were  constructed 
under  the  laws  of  four  States,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  Ohio 
and  Illinois,  and  in  their  consolidation  many  new,  complicated 
and  difficult  questions  were  to  be  grasped  and  solved.  It  was 
the  first  great  work  of  the  kind  that  had  been  undertaken  in 
the  United  States,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  accom 
plished  placed  Mr.  Tilden  as  a  railroad  lawyer  at  the  head  of 
his  profession.  His  distinction  was  not,  however,  limited  to 
his  superior  knowledge  of  the  laws  by  which  corporate  bodies 
were  created  and  governed.  His  general  legal  learning  was 
extensive  and  accurate.  He  was  not  an  easy  and  graceful 
speaker,  and  he  was  rarely  effective  in  addressing  a  jury ; 
but  as  a  legal  counsellor,  he  had  few  equals  and  no  superior 
in  New  York.  He  was  also  a  man  of  large  literary  acquire 
ment,  a  forcible  and  instructive  writer,  and  when  he  entered 
the  political  arena  he  was  leader  and  master.  To  all  these 
qualities  he  united  sagacity  and  pluck.  It  was  by  his  skilful 
and  persistent  labors  that  a  powerful  ring  that  had  for  years 
been  governing  and  robbing  the  city  was  exposed  and  broken 
up.  Then,  too,  he  was  a  worthy  representative  of  Jeffersonian 
democracy — sound  to  the  core  upon  all  financial  and  economical 
questions  according  to  the  standards  of  that  school.  That  he 
was  thoroughly  equipped  for  the  Presidency,  was  not  denied 
by  his  opponents.  The  main  objections  to  his  nomination 
were  that,  although  a  Union  man,  he  had  been  more  disposed 
to  criticise  the  actions  of  the  Government  than  to  strengthen 
it  by  his  hearty  support  during  the  war.  He  was  rich,  and 
the  most  of  his  large  fortune  had  been  acquired  in  railroad 
operations,  in  which  he  was  an  adept,  and  in  which  a  large 
part  of  his  gains  were  the  losses  of  other  people;  but  these 
drawbacks  were  not  considered  serious  by  the  party  leaders. 
The  tickets  on  both  sides  were  highly  respectable.  On  the 


THE   IIAYS-TILDEX    CAMPAIGN.  415 

whole  it  would  have  been  difficult  for  the  managers  to  have 
selected  men  better  fitted  to  bring  out  the  full  Republican  and 
Democratic  strength.  The  comparatively  few  votes  which 
were  cast  for  the  Greenback  ticket,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
the  venerable  and  honored  name  of  Peter  Cooper,  were  drawn 
about  equally  from  the  two  parties. 

The  mention  of  Mr.  Cooper's  name  reminds  me  of  a  con 
versation  which  I  had  with  him  at  the  dinner  which  was  given 
to  Bayard  Taylor  just  before  the  latter' s  departure  to  enter 
upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  at 
Berlin.  Mr.  Cooper's  chair  was  next  to  mine.  I  knew,  of 
course,  that  his  opinions  in  regard  to  the  general  currency 
question  were  the  very  opposite  of  mine,  and  I  desired  to 
avoid  all  reference  to  it ;  but  just  before  the  dinner  was  over, 
he  made  some  remark  about  the  money  market,  which  was 
then  stringent,  which  fact  he  attributed  to  the  scarcity  of 
money.  I  therefore  could  not  help  asking  him  if  he  thought 
that  the  best  interests  of  the  country  would  be  promoted  by  a 
further  issue  of  Government  notes.  "  Undoubtedly  I  do,  sir. 
What  is  wanted  now  to  bring  back  the  country  to  a  really 
prosperous  condition  is  an  additional  issue  of  at  least  two 
thousand  millions  of  legal-tender  notes."  Coming  as  this 
remark  did  from  a  man  of  excellent  business  capacity,  I  was 
amazed  by  it.  How  such  an  opinion  could  be  entertained  by 
such  a  man  was  to  me  incomprehensible. 

The  canvass  of  1876  was,  as  I  have  said,  a  vigorous  one. 
Neither  money  nor  effort  was  wanting  on  either  side.  Both 
sides  were  confident,  but  neither  was  so  confident  as  to  neglect 
the  use  of  all  the  ways  and  means  which  were  considered  by 
the  keenest  politicians  essential  to  success.  The  result  was 
doubtful  up  to  the  day  of  the  election ;  it  was  doubtful  after 
the  election  was  over,  and  to  this  day  the  question,  Was  Tilden 
or  Hayes  duly  elected  ?  is  an  open  one.  The  first  reports 
received  in  New  York  were  so  decidedly  in  favor  of  the 
Democratic  ticket,  that  the  leading  Republican  journals 


416  ME1ST  AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

admitted  its  success.  The  next  day  different  reports  were 
received,  and  both  sides  claimed  the  victory.  In  regard  to  the 
votes  in  all  the  States  except  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Louisi 
ana,  and  Oregon,  there  was  no  question.  By  the  first  decis 
ions  of  the  returning  boards  of  these  States  enough  votes  were 
declared  to  have  been  given  to  the  Democratic  ticket  to  estab 
lish  its  success  by  a  decided  majority.  These  decisions  were, 
however,  changed,  either  as  the  result  of  more  careful  examina 
tions  of  the  poll-books,  or  the  pressure  of  the  contending  par 
ties  upon  the  State  officials,  and  it  was  soon  well  known  that 
two  election  certificates  from  each  of  these  States  would  be  pre 
sented  when  the  count  before  the  two  Houses  would  be  made 
on  the  second  Wednesday  of  February,  and  that  the  question 
which  should  be  received  as  being  the  proper  certificate  must 
then,  in  each  case,  be  decided.  The  Constitution  merely 
required  that  the  President  of  the  Senate,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  should  open  all 
the  certificates,  and  that  the  votes  should  be  then  counted. 
It  was  silent  in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  the  votes 
should  be  counted,  nor  did  it  direct  how  questions  which 
might  arise  in  regard  to  the  correctness  of  the  certificates 
or  the  eligibility  of  the  electors  were  to  be  decided. 

The  contents  of  the  certificates  from  the  States  referred  to 
were  well  known ;  and  it  was  understood  that  the  Republi 
can  members  of  Congress  favored  one  set  of  certificates,  the 
Democratic  members  another,  and  that  neither  would  yield. 
The  Republicans  controlled  the  Senate,  the  Democrats  the 
House,  and  there  was  no  umpire.  If  the  two  Houses  should 
meet  when  the  votes  were  to  be  counted,  it  was  quite  certain 
that  there  would  be  no  accord  between  them  as  to  the  man 
ner  in  which  the  votes  should  be  counted,  and  the  certifi 
cates  which  should  be  received.  The  condition  was  critical. 
Anarchy  might  follow.  There  had  been  great  excitement 
throughout  the  country  from  the  time  the  first  election 
returns  were  received,  and  this  excitement  was  culminating  as 


THE   ELECTORAL   COMMISSION.  417 

the  time  for  counting  the  votes  drew  near.  Never  since  the 
formation  of  the  Government,  not  even  in  the  darkest  days  of 
the  civil  war,  were  there  such  anxious  forebodings  among 
thoughtful  men  as  prevailed  for  some  days  in  January,  1877. 
Fortunately  Congress  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  By  a  bill 
which  went  through  the  Senate  on  the  25th  of  January  by 
the  decisive  vote  of  47  to  17,  and  through  the  House  the 
next  day  by  the  equally  decisive  vote  of  191  to  86,  and  which 
became  a  law  the  next  day  by  the  approval  of  the  President, 
a  commission  was  created  to  which  all  questions  growing  out 
of  the  election  returns  were  to  be  referred,  and  whose  decis 
ions  were  to  be  final.  Anxious  people  breathed  freely  again. 
A  danger,  the  extent  of  which  could  not  be  foreseen,  which 
threatened  the  very  existence  of  the  Government,  was  escaped 
by  the  creation  of  this  commission.  It  consisted  of  five  sena 
tors — George  F.  Edmunds,  Oliver  P.  Morton,  Frederick  T. 
Freylinghuysen,  Republicans ;  and  Allen  G.  Thurman  and 
Thomas  F.  Bayard,  Democrats ;  of  five  members  of  the 
House — Henry  B.  Payne,  Eppa  Hunter,  Josiah  G.  Abbott, 
Democrats ;  James  A.  Garfield  and  George  F.  Hoar,  Repub 
licans  ;  and  of  five  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  four  of 
whom  were  designated  in  the  act  by  the  circuits  to  which  they 
were  assigned,  to  wit :  Nathan  Clifford  and  Stephen  J.  Field, 
Democrats;  William  Strong  and  Samuel  F.  Miller,  Republi 
cans.  By  the  act,  these  four  justices  were  to  select  the  fifth 
justice  to  make  the  number  fifteen.  The  Commission  thus 
consisted  of  five  Republican  and  five  Democratic  Congress 
men,  and  two  Republican  and  two  Democratic  justices.  The 
interesting  question  upon  which  the  result  might  turn  was, 
which  of  the  remaining  justices  would  be  selected  to  make  up 
the  complement.  When  the  Electoral  Commission  Act  was 
passed,  the  following  were  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court : 
Morrison  R.  Waite,  Chief  Justice ;  Nathan  Clifford,  Noah  H. 
Swayne,  David  Davis,  Samuel  F.  Miller,  Stephen  J.  Field, 
William  Strong,  Joseph  P.  Bradley  and  Ward  Hunt.  All 
27 


418  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

were  Republicans  except  Clifford  and  Field,  who  were  Demo 
crats,  and  Davis,  who  before  the  war  was  a  Democrat,  but 
who  had  been  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  an 
ardent  supporter  of  his  administration,  but  an  opponent  of 
General  Grant's.  He  was  therefore  regarded  as  being  in 
politics  an  independent,  and  it  was  generally  expected  that  he 
would  be  selected  to  be  the  fifth  member  of  the  Commission. 
It  so  happened,  however,  that  after  the  act  had  become  a  law, 
but  before  any  action  was  taken  under  it,  he  had  been  elected 
United  States  Senator  from  Illinois,  and  had  resigned  his 
justiceship.  Justice  Bradley  was  selected,  and  the  Commis 
sion  stood  politically — eight  Republicans  to  seven  Democrats. 
The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  are  out  of  politics,  and 
are  supposed  to  be  absolutely  free  from  political  bias  and 
aloof  from  political  influence,  and  such  they  undoubtedly  are 
when  acting  in  a  judicial  capacity  ;  but  the  duties  which  these 
five  justices  were  called  upon  to  perform  as  members  of  this 
commission  were  not  considered  judicial.  The  questions  to 
be  examined  and  decided  were  questions  for  a  proper  under 
standing  of  which  superior  legal  knowledge  was  not  essential. 
It  was  a  purely  political  proceeding,  and  everybodj^  expected 
that  the  justices  would  be  subject  to  the  same  influences 
that  would  be  sure  to  control  the  action  and  votes  of  their 
associates.  So  strong  was  this  expectation,  that  many  Demo 
crats  did  not  hesitate  to  say,  when  they  heard  that  Justice 
Bradley  had  been  made  a  member  of  the  Commission,  that 
the  game  was  up  with  their  party  ;  and  so  it  turned  out. 
The  members  of  the  Commission  had  been  respectively  sworn 
that  they  would  impartially  examine  and  consider  all  questions 
submitted  to  the  Commission,  and  a  true  judgment  give 
thereon,  according  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  ;  and  yet 
every  member  of  it — the  justices  as  well  as  the  Congressmen- 
acted  and  voted  as  political  partisans.  On  every  question  on 
which  the  Commission  was  divided — and  it  was  divided  on 
every  material  question — the  vote  stood  eight  to  seven.  By 


HAYES    DECLARED    ELECTED.  419 

this  vote  the  electoral  votes  of  Florida  were  counted  for 
Hayes  and  Wheeler,  and  so  were  the  votes  of  South  Carolina, 
Louisiana,  and  Oregon.  With  the  votes  of  these  States,  and 
the  votes  which  it  had  received  in  the  other  States,  in  regard 
to  whose  returns  there  had  been  no  disagreement  between 
the  two  Houses,  the  Republican  ticket  was  elected  by  a 
majority  of  one.  The  certificates  from  all  the  States  had  been 
opened  by  the  President  of  the  Senate,  in  the  presence  of 
both  Houses,  and  only  those  to  the  receipt  of  which  objec 
tions  had  been  raised,  were  referred  to  the  Commission.  On 
the  second  day  of  March,  1877,  the  counting  of  the  votes 
having  been  concluded.  Senator  William  B.  Allison,  one  of 
the  tellers  on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  in  the  presence  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  announced  as  the  result  of  the  foot 
ings,  that  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  had  received  185  votes  for 
President,  and  William  A.  Wheeler  185  votes  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent ;  that  Samuel  J.  Tilden  had  received  184  votes  for  Presi 
dent,  and  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  184  votes  for  Vice-President, 
and  thereupon  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Convention  of  the 
two  Houses  declared  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  to  have  been 
elected  President,  and  William  A.  Wheeler  Yice-President  of 
the  United  States  for  four  years  from  the  4th  day  of  March, 

1877. 

This  decision  was  quietly  acquiesced  in  by  the  Democrats, 
but  not  without  heartburnings,  nor  without  the  feeling,  which 
continues  to  this  day,  that  they  had  been  cheated  out  of  the 
Presidency.  Whether  the  result  would  have  been  different  if 
Justice  Davis,  instead  of  Justice  Bradley,  had  been  the  fifth 
justice  in  the  Commission,  is  a  question  that  must  always 
remain  open.  By  no  utterance  of  Mr.  Davis  was  there  ever 
an  indication  of  what  his  action  would  have  been,  but  he  had 
a  high  opinion  of  Mr.  Tilden,  and  his  political  sympathies  were 
known  by  his  intimate  friends  to  have  been  on  the  side  of  the 
Democrats.  Hence  the  prevailing  opinion  among  the  Demo 
crats  has  been  that  if  he  had  not  been  elected  senator,  Tilden 


420     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

would  have  been  President.  The  decision  of  the  Commission 
at  an  early  stage  of  the  proceedings,  by  a  vote  of  eight  to 
seven,  that  the  Commissioners  were  not  authorized  by  the 
Constitution  and  the  Act  to  go  behind  the  returns  that  had 
"been  certified  to  by  the  returning  officers  of  the  State,  and 
that  no  evidence  could  be  received  to  impeach  their  correct 
ness,  indicated  very  clearty  what  the  result  would  be;  as  by 
the  certificates  of  the  returning  board  from  Florida,  South 
Carolina  and  Louisiana,  Republicans  had  been  elected.  In 
the  Oregon  case,  there  were  two  certificates  ;  but  the  only 
question  was  in  regard  to  the  eligibility  of  one  of  the  Repub 
lican  electors,  John  "W.  Watts,  which  was  by  the  vote  of 
eight  to  seven  decided  in  his  favor.  If  the  Commission  could 
have  gone  behind  the  returns  which  bore  the  names  of  the 
State  officials,  they  might  have  discovered  that  those  from 
Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  and  Florida  were  not  true.  If 
they  could  have  gone  further  and  examined  into  the  manner  in 
which  the  elections  in  those  States  had  been  conducted,  they 
might  have  ascertained  that  a  great  number  of  Republican 
negroes  had  been  unlawfully  prevented  from  voting.  My 
own  opinion  at  the  time  was,  and  still  is,  that  if  the  distin 
guished  Northern  men  who  visited  those  States  immediately 
after  the  election  had  stayed  at  home,  and  there  had  been  no 
outside  pressure  upon  the  returning  boards,  their  certificates 
would  have  been  in  favor  of  the  Democratic  electors.  This 
opinion  was  confirmed  by  a  remark  of  the  president  of  the 
Union  Telegraph  Company  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
LTnion  League  Club  of  New  York  in  1878.  In  a  conversation 
which  I  had  with  him,  I  happened  to  speak  of  the  election  of 
Mr.  Hayes  ;  when  he  interrupted  me  by  sa}7ing :  "  But  he  was 
not  elected."  "  If  he  was  not,  the  examinations  of  your  office 
failed  to  show  it,"  I  replied.  "Oh,  yes,"  he  rejoined,  "  but  that 
was  because  the  examiners  did  not  know  where  to  look."  This 
was  not  said  to  me  in  confidence.  My  wife  was  with  me,  and 
he  might  have  been  heard  by  others  who  were  standing  near, 


HAYES'S  ADMINISTRATION.  421 

as  he  spoke  in  his  usual  tone.  "  Mr.  Tilden,"  said  a  prominent 
Republican  to  me,  a  year  or  two  ago — "  Mr.  Tilden  was,  I 
suppose,  legally  elected,  but  not  fairly ; "  and  this  was  doubt 
less  the  conclusion  of  a  great  many  other  Republicans. 

But  whatever  may  be  thought  about  his  election,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  Mr.  Hayes  proved  to  be  an  upright,  fair- 
minded,  intelligent  and  conscientious  President.  In  all 
respects  his  administration  was  an  improvement  upon  the 
one  that  preceded  it.  He  made  some  unwise  appointments, 
of  which  that  of  Major  D.  G.  Swaim,  to  be  Judge  Advocate 
General  in  place  of  William  McKee  Dunn,  was  the  most 
objectionable  ;  but  they  were  exceptional,  and  his  adminis 
tration  will  bear  a  favorable  comparison  with  those  which 
have  been  most  highly  commended  by  the  public.  It  has  not 
received,  even  from  the  Republican  press,  the  credit  to  which 
it  was  justly  entitled.  During  the  term  of  Mr.  Hayes  all 
branches  of  the  public  service  were  efficiently  administered, 
and  the  country  was  unusually  prosperous.  By  his  political 
enemies,  Mr.  Hayes  has  been  more  violently  assailed  than  any 
other  President  except  Andrew  Johnson  ;  not,  as  far  as  I  have 
observed,  because  he  failed  in  the  proper  discharge  of  his 
duties  as  President,  but  because  he  accepted  the  Presidency. 
He  has  been  stigmatized  by  leading  public  journals  as  "  the 
fraudulent  President ; "  but  there  has  never  been  the  slightest 
evidence  that  he  had  any  agency  in  the  alleged  frauds  by 
which  his  election  was  secured.  It  was  not  by  his  influence 
or  advice  that  the  Electoral  Commission  was  created.  By  that 
Commission,  which  was  created  by  the  intelligent  and  patriotic 
action  of  both  parties,  he  was  declared  to  have  been  duly 
elected  President,  and  he  was  under  solemn  obligations,  not 
only  to  his  party,  but  to  the  people  without  respect  to  party, 
to  accept  the  office.  In  the  then  condition  of  the  country,  it 
would  have  been  his  duty  to  accept  it  even  if  he  had  doubted 
that  he  was  legally  elected. 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Hayes  was  limited,  but  I  care- 


422     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

fully  observed  his  public  career,  and  discovered  much  for  which 
he  should  be  commended ;  very  little  for  which  he  should  be 
censured.  There  is  nothing  in  his  record  as  President  of 
which  his  friends  should  be  ashamed,  or  which  his  countrymen 
should  desire  to  conceal.  His  messages  were  well  written ; 
his  public  addresses  were  in  good  taste ;  his  personal  character 
was  above  reproach.  The  social  and  moral  tone  of  the  White 
House  was  never  higher  than  when  he  was  its  master  and  his 
accomplished  wife  its  mistress.  If  in  the  performance  of 
official  but  social  duties  their  temperance  principles  were  too 
rigidly  adhered  to,  the  mistake  was  not  one  that  lessened  them 
in  public  estimation. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

First  Impressions  of  England— The  "Scotia"— Captain  Judkins— The  Cunard 
Steamship  Company — The  White  Star  Steamers— Opinions  in  regard  to 
their  Model — Steamships  and  Sailing  Vessels — Changes  in  Commerce  by 
Steamships — The  "Britannia" — The  "  Enterprise  "—The  "Sirius" — 
Barges  and  Flatboats  Superseded  by  Steamboats  on  Western  Rivers — 
Iron  Supersedes  Wood  in  the  Construction  of  Ships — The  Battle  between 
the  "Monitor"'  and  the  "  Virginia"  renders  Valueless  the  Navies  of  the 
World — Liverpool  and  her  Docks — All  Nations  there  Represented  except 
the  United  States — Ride  from  Liverpool  to  London — Appearance  of  the 
Country — English  Farming — Climate  Favorable  to  Agriculture. 

THE  iirst  impressions  made  upon  me  in  regard  to  England, 
which  I  visited  for  the  first  time  in  November,  1870, 
were  very  favorable,  and  they  were  not  impaired,  but  rather 
strengthened,  during  the  five  or  six  years  that  I  lived  there. 
I  left  New  York,  with  my  family,  on  the  Scotia — the  last,  I 
think,  of  the  English  side-wheeled  ocean  steamers — on  the 
9th  of  November,  1870,  and  arrived  at  Liverpool  on  the 
19th.  Captain  Judkins,  who  commanded  the  Scotia,  was 
an  excellent  sailor;  one  of  the  surliest  old  sea-dogs  in  the 
service  to  those  who  asked  questions,  but  one  of  the  kindest 
and  most  communicative  to  those  who  did  not  trouble  him, 
and  especially  to  those  who  he  expected  would  be  liberal  con 
tributors  to  a  benevolent  institution  in  Liverpool  in  which  he 
was  deeply  interested.  The  Cunard  steamship  line  was  the 
pioneer  of  the  steamship  lines  between  Europe  and  the  United 
States.  By  the  excellence  of  its  ships  and  the  tried  seaman 
ship  of  the  officers  (no  one  was  ever  intrusted  with  a  com 
mand  whose  qualifications  as  a  sailor  and  navigator  had  not 
been  thoroughly  tested)  the  Cunard  Company  obtained  the 
distinction  which  it  has  in  a  large  measure  retained  to  the  pres 
ent  day.  It  has  not  always  been  as  enterprising  in  the  way  of 


MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

improvements  as  other  lines,  and  its  ships  have,  until  lately, 
frequently  been  surpassed  in  speed,  but  never  in  strength,  or  in 
careful  and  skilful  management.  I  have  known  some  people, 
and  heard  of  many  others,  who  frequently  cross  the  Atlantic, 
who  will  go  on  the  ships  of  no  other  line.  This  company  had  for 
a  time  grave  doubts  as  to  whether  ships  of  lesser  width  than  the 
Russia  and  other  ships  of  their  line,  would  stand  such  severe 
storms  as  are  frequently  encountered  on  the  Atlantic.  These 
doubts  were  shared  by  a  great  many  experienced  navigators. 
I  was  in  London  when  the  first  steamer  of  the  White  Star  line 
left  Liverpool,  and  I  heard  at  the  office  of  one  of  the  marine 
insurance  companies,  the  opinion  expressed  by  a  number  of 
naval  men  that  she  would  never  reach  New  York.  One  man, 
who  I  understood  had  been  a  sailor,  remarked  in  a  loud  and 
authoritative  tone,  "  She  is  too  narrow  for  her  length — too  nar 
row,  sir,  by  thirty  feet ;  no  ship  of  her  build  can  stand  rough 
weather  ;  she  will  break  in  two  in  the  first  storm  she  encoun 
ters."  The  fate  predicted  did  not  overtake  her.  She  made 
many  trips  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  with  perfect  safety,  and 
her  model  was  not  only  adopted  for  sister  ships,  but  by  other 
lines,  including  the  Cunard. 

In  these  days,  time  has  become  much  more  important  than 
it  was  some  years  ago.  Competition  has  reduced  rates  of 
transportation  to  such  an  extent  that  the  saving  by  a  steam 
ship  of  one  or  two  days'  expenditure  is  a  matter  of  considera 
ble  importance  to  her  owners.  When  I  left  New  England  in 
1833,  ocean  steamships  were  things  of  the  future.  All  the 
productions  of  the  LTnited  States  which  went  abroad,  then 
chiefly  cotton  and  tobacco,  were  carried  by  sailing  vessels, 
which  were  built  to  carry  the  bulkiest  and  heaviest  cargoes 
without  regard  to  speed.  Such  vessels  were  forty  or  fifty 
days  in  crossing  the  Atlantic,  but  as  it  frequently  happened 
that  as  much  as  a  penny  a  pound  was  paid  on  cotton  from 
New  Orleans  to  Liverpool,  more  money  was  made  in  a  single 
trip  by  one  of  those  vessels  than  is  now  made  by  steamships 


CHANGE   IN    OCEAN   STEAMSHIPS.  425 

in  three.  Vessels  that  would  carry  the  largest  cargoes  were 
therefore  in  demand  ;  not  those  which  would  make  the  best 
time.  Baltimore  had  then  the  reputation  of  building  the 
fleetest  sailing  vessels,  and  we  used  to  hear  a  good  deal  about 
the  Baltimore  clippers.  For  what  trade  they  were  used,  I  do 
not  recollect.  Upon  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  a 
number  of  clipper  ships  were  built  in  New  England  and  New 
York  for  speedy  voyages  to  San  Francisco.  Beautiful  ships 
they  were — the  most  perfect  specimens  of  naval  architecture. 
Their  day  was  short,  but  brilliant.  No  sailing  vessels  ever 
equalled  them  in  speed,  and  in  those  lively  days  time  was  of 
importance,  and  on  so  long  a  voyage  sailing  vessels  had  great 
advantage  over  steamships,  on  account  of  the  quantity  of  coal 
the  steamships  had  to  aike  with  them.  These  clipper  ships 
were  profitable  for  a  couple  of  seasons  only.  The  construc 
tion  of  the  Panama  Railroad  put  an  end  to  their  utility,  and 
they  soon  after  disappeared  from  the  ocean. 

Of  all  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  within  the  last 
half  century,  none  has  been  more  marked  and  decided  than 
that  in  ships.  Until  the  Cunard  Company,  in  1840,  sent  their 
first  steamship,  the  Britannia,  of  thirteen  hundred  tons,  from 
Liverpool  to  Boston,  sailing  vessels  built  of  wood  had  the 
command  of  the  seas.  There  were,  it  is  true,  a  few  steam 
ships  constructed  before  that  time.  In  1819,  the  Savannah, 
with  sails  as  well  as  steam,  went  from  Savannah  in  Georgia, 
to  St.  Petersburg,  stopping  on  her  way  out  at  England,  and 
completing  her  run  from  St.  Petersburg  back  to  Savannah  in 
twenty-six  days ;  so  that  the  honor  of  sending  the  first  steam 
ship  across  the  ocean  from  the  United  States  belongs  to  a 
Southern  State.  In  1825,  the  Enterprise,  probably  so  called, 
went  from  England  to  Calcutta,  and  in  1838  the  Sirius,  of 
seven  hundred  tons,  and  the  Great  Western,  of  thirteen  hun 
dred  and  forty  tons,  came  to  New  York  from  Liverpool. 
These,  however,  were  experiments.  Regular  ocean  traffic  by 
steamships  did  not  fairly  commence  until  the  establishment  of 


426     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

the  Cunard  fine  in  1840.  From  that  time  the  construction  of 
steamships  went  rapidly  on,  and  traffic  upon  the  seas  went  as 
rapidly  from  sailing  vessels  to  steamers.  The  great  motive 
power  of  the  world,  upon  water  as  well  as  upon  land,  is  steam. 
Upon  the  great  lakes  and  upon  the  ocean  its  value  is  appre 
ciated  ;  but  upon  the  rivers  only  can  its  great  advantages  be 
fully  understood.  Before  I  went  to  the  West,  and  for  some 
time  after,  the  business  upon  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries 
was  chiefly  carried  on  by  flatboats,  which  were  floated  down 
to  New  Orleans  by  the  current,  and  broken  up  and  sold  for 
lumber  after  their  cargoes  had  been  disposed  of  ;  or  by  barges, 
which,  after  they  had  been  unloaded  at  the  levee,  were  towed 
back  to  their  shipping  points  by  watermen — a  race  that  has 
long  since  disappeared.  A  whole  season  was  consumed  by 
these  barges  in  a  single  trip  down  and  back  from  the  Ohio 
and  upper  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans. 

Steamboats,  when  they  came  into  full  play,  changed  all 
this,  and  opened  for  settlement  a  country  as  large  as  that 
which  lies  east  of  the  Alleghanies.  The  ocean  and  lake  traffic 
might  have  been  carried  on  by  sailing  vessels,  but  upon  no 
rivers,  except  the  great  rivers  of  South  America,  could  sails  be 
used.  In  our  harbors  one  now  sees  a  few  sailing  vessels,  and 
here  and  there  a  three-masted  schooner,  which  reminds  him  of 
the  Baltimore  clippers,  but  these  are  engaged  in  a  coastwise 
trade,  and  are  being  rapidly  superseded  by  small  steamers. 
In  1876,  the  last  time  I  was  in  Liverpool,  I  saw  scarcely  a 
single  sailing  vessel  among  the  hundreds  that  filled  her  docks. 
The  age  is  utilitarian ;  it  is  the  most  useful  that  is  sought  for, 
what  pays  the  best  is  the  desideratum.  The  sailing  ship  is  a 
thing  of  beauty.  Nothing  to  me  is  so  beautiful  as  a  full-rigged 
ship  with  all  sails  set,  as  she  moves  before  the  wind ;  but  she 
has  ceased  to  pay.  A  steamship  is  a  thing  of  power.  There 
is  nothing  about  her  which  is  beautiful,  but  she  is  time-saving, 
and  hence  her  superiority  over  sailing  vessels.  Next  to  steam, 
iron  and  steel  have  been  the  great  factors  in  the  revolution  of 


FIRST    IMPRESSIONS    OF   ENGLAND.  427 

the  last  half  century  in  shipbuilding.  Fifty  years  ago,  vessels 
of  all  descriptions,  naval  as  well  as  those  that  were  used  in 
trade,  were  built  of  wood.  Now  iron  and  steel  are  almost 
exclusively  used.  There  are  a  few  small  sailing  vessels  being 
built  of  wood  for  home  trade,  but  a  wooden  ship  of  war  can 
only  be  seen  among  the  hulks.  The  fight  in  Hampton  Koads 
between  the  little  Monitor  and  the  Virginia  sealed  the  fate  of 
wooden  war  ships.  What  a  revolution  in  shipbuilding  that 
first  contest  between  iron-clads  produced !  It  literally  made 
valueless  the  navies  of  the  world,  upon  which  countless  mill 
ions  had  been  expended.  In  itself  considered,  it  was,  in  com 
parison  with  hundreds  of  other  naval  battles,  an  unimportant 
affair;  but  as  I  have  said,  by  enabling  the  Government  to 
maintain  the  blockade,  it  did  much  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union,  and  by  showing  how  powerless  wooden  ships 
would  be  in  contests  with  iron-clads,  it  created  a  sys 
tem  of  naval  architecture  in  which  all  the  commercial 
nations  are  now  experimenting.  Each  is  trying  to  construct 
ships  that  will  attain  the  greatest  speed,  carry  the  heaviest 
guns,  and  resist  the  heaviest  shot.  How  valuable  they  will  be, 
will  doubtless  be  proven  in  the  next  great  European  war. 

I  have  said  that  the  first  impression  which  I  received  in 
visiting  England  was  favorable.  It  could  hardly  fail  to  be  so, 
as  I  landed  in  Liverpool,  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and 
interesting  of  European  cities,  and  the  greatest  sea-port  of  the 
world.  The  bustle  in  the  streets,  and  the  activity  which  seemed 
to  prevail  throughout  the  city,  reminded  me  of  New  York  ;  but 
its  streets  were  better  paved,  and  although  in  actual  growth  it 
was  not  older  than  New  York,  its  buildings  seemed  to  be 
ancient  and  better  built.  But  what  impressed  me  most  favor 
ably  was  the  docks  and  the  shipping.  The  docks,  unequalled 
in  extent  and  massive  strength  by  any  in  the  world,  affording 
the  greatest  facilities  for  handling  goods,  and  protecting  the 
ships  that  filled  them  against  danger  from  storms,  have  been, 
and  continue  to  be,  the  admiration  of  visitors.  I  saw  nothing 


428     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

in  England  that  indicated  more  far-seeing  intelligence  and 
wisdom  in  expenditure,  than  the  Liverpool  docks.  I  was, 
however,  most  interested  in  the  shipping — in  the  variety  of  flags 
that  floated  from  the  masts  of  the  ships  with  which  the  docks 
were  filled,  without  being  crowded.  It  seemed  to  me  that  all 
important  nations  were  there  represented  except  my  own.  I 
was  not  disappointed  in  this,  for  I  knew,  of  course,  that  the 
United  States  had  ceased  to  be,  what  they  were  many  years 
ago,  a  great  maritime  nation  ;  but  I  could  not  suppress  feelings 
of  chagrin  that  in  that  great  congregation  of  ships  the  Stripes 
and  Stars  were  not  to  be  seen.  Commercial  cities  are  to  me 
more  interesting  than  any  others.  There  is  a  fascination  in 
international  trade — in  the  intermingling  of  men  from  nations 
remote  from  each  other — in  the  brotherhood  which  is  thus 
established  between  different  races.  There  is  something  enno 
bling  in  a  seafaring  life.  Sailors  ought  to  be,  and  are,  a  superior 
class  to  the  laborers  in  factories  and  in  mines  ;  and  commercial 
cities,  in  the  intelligence — the  mental  scope  of  their  people — 
are  of  a  higher  and  more  liberal  type  than  manufacturing  cities. 
I  was  more  interested  in  Liverpool  than  I  should  have  been, 
if  it  had  not  reminded  me  of  Boston  as  it  was  in  my  boyhood. 
Much  larger  it  certainly  was,  but  not  larger  than  Boston 
seemed  to  me  then.  I  shall  not,  and  my  children  may  not,  see 
the  United  States  a  great  maritime  and  commercial  nation ;  but 
I  shall  live  and  die  in  the  hope  that  it  will  become  so  at  no 
very  distant  day.  Aside  from  the  docks  and  the  shipping, 
I  saw  in  Liverpool  indications  of  the  thrift  which  is  always 
the  result  of  well-directed  enterprise  and  industry. 

The  ride  from  Liverpool  to  London  was  a  short  one,  but 
long  enough  to  give  me  a  pretty  correct  idea  of  the  English 
landscape,  which,  although  there  is  in  it  much  of  sameness,  is 
everywhere  and  at  all  times  beautiful.  It  was  after  the 
middle  of  November,  but  there  had  been  no  killing  frost. 
The  foliage  of  the  trees  was  yellow  (it  never  has  the  brilliancy 
of  color  which  is  peculiar  to  the  trees  of  the  United  States  in 


ENGLISH    AGRICULTURE.  429 

autumn),  but  the  grass  was  as  green  as  it  is  in  spring.  There 
were  no  visible  fences  to  separate  the  fields,  and  no  barns.  A 
Pennsylvania  farmer,  in  travelling  hastily  over  England  in 
autumn,  would  conclude  that  farming  there  is  conducted  on  a 
very  small  scale,  and  that  the  crops  are  not  well  cared  for. 
To  him  the  evidence  of  extensive  and  productive  farming  is 
found  in  the  size  of  the  barns;  according  to  his  notions  a 
farm  without  a  large  barn  is  not  worth  looking  at,  but  if  he 
should  spend  time  enough  to  see  how  farming  is  conducted  in 
England,  he  would  discover  that  the  lands  are  generally  under 
good  tillage,  and  that  there  is  no  neglect  of  their  productions. 
Instead  of  barns  he  would  see  stacks  so  carefully  and  skilfully 
—I  might  say  artistically — made  that  the  rain  does  not  pene 
trate  them,  in  which  the  hay  and  unthreshed  grain  are  as  well 
protected  as  they  could  be  under  roofs  ;  and  he  would  dis 
cover  also  that  the  root  crops  under  mounds  in  the  fields  are 
in  as  good  preservation  as  they  would  be  in  stone-walled 
cellars.  Nowhere  except  in  the  best-managed  market  gardens 
is  the  earth  made  to  do  its  best ;  but  in  no  country  is  there 
better  farming  than  there  is  even  now  in  England.  I  say 
even  now,  because  there  has  been  in  late  years  some  falling  off 
in  English  farming,  it  having  ceased  to  be  as  profitable  as  it 
formerly  was. 

It  was  predicted  that  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws  would 
affect  injuriously  the  agricultural  industry  of  that  country, 
but  the  prediction  was  not  verified.  The  repeal  of  these  laws 
opened  wide  the  door  for  foreign  importations  of  grain,  but  it 
stimulated  the  English  farmer  to  greater  exertion,  and  he 
was  more  prosperous  after  he  was  deprived  of  the  protection 
which  the  Corn  Laws  gave  to  him  than  before.  It  is  the 
immense  increase  in  the  production  of  wheat  in  California,  in 
the  Northern  part  of  the  United  States,  and  in  Australia,  that 
has  made  wheat-growing — the  most  important  of  her  crops — 
unprofitable  in  Great  Britain.  Wheat  cannot  be  profitably 
raised  by  the  British  farmer,  even  with  the  low  rates  of  labor 


430  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

and  the  use  of  machinery,  at  the  prices  which  it  is  now  selling 
in  Liverpool.  The  present  low  prices  which  prevail  every 
where  cannot,  however,  be  of  long  continuance.  Except 
where  it  is  raised  on  a  large  scale,  and  chiefly  by  the  use  of 
machinery  on  fresh  lands,  wheat  costs  more  than  it  now  sells 
for.  The  low  prices  increase  consumption  and  diminish  produc 
tion.  Less  and  less  land  will,  year  by  year,  be  cultivated  in 
wheat,  until  it  can  be  raised  and  sold  at  a  profit.  Its  production 
has  been  stimulated  by  the  fact  that  there  is  always  a  cash 
market  for  it  at  some  price,  which  is  not  the  case  with  other 
crops,  and  the  soil  and  climate  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and  of  the 
north-western  Territories  of  the  United  States  which  have 
been  recently  opened,  are  especially  adapted  to  its  cultivation. 
These  fresh  lands  rapidly  lose  their  productive  power.  To  be 
kept  up  they  must  be  helped  by  fertilizers,  which,  situated  as 
they  are,  will  be  expensive.  Wheat,  therefore,  cannot  long  be 
profitably  raised  on  these  lands  without  an  advance  in  prices. 
The  climate  and  soil  of  England  are,  however,  favorable  to  its 
production,  and  so  great  is  the  home  demand,  that  if  the 
lands  were  owned  by  those  who  cultivate  them,  and  the  taxes 
upon  them  were  no  higher  than  they  are  upon  lands  in  the 
United  States,  it  could,  even  at  the  present  prices,  be  profit 
ably  grown,  as  the  average  yield  per  acre  in  England  is 
nearly  three  times  as  large  as  it  is  in  the  United  States. 

Fertilizers  are,  however,  expensive,  and  the  land  proprie 
tors  are  turning  their  attention  more  than  ever  before  to  stock 
growing,  in  which  England  has  always  been  in  the  lead.  The 
United  States  are  indebted  to  her  for  their  fine  herds  of 
domestic  animals.  Our  race  horses  and  roadsters,  our  best 
milkers  and  beef  cattle  and  swine,  are  of  English  origin.  Some 
of  them  have  not  been  degenerated  by  the  change  of  climate, 
but  every  year  there  are  fresh  importations  to  prevent  retro 
gression.  For  all  we  have  in  this  line,  except  draft  horses 
from  Normandy,  and  some  varieties  of  sheep  from  Spain,  we 
are  under  obligations  to  the  mother  country,  or  to  her  adjacent 


FARMING   AND   THE   CLIMATE.  431 

islands.  Some  of  the  European  nations  are  also  indebted  to 
her  for  their  stock.  There  is  no  healthier  country  for  animals 
of  all  kinds  than  England ;  none  superior  to  it  for  hay  and 
root  crops ;  none  equal  to  it  for  grazing  except  the  blue  grass 
regions  of  Kentucky.  The  grasses  in  England  seem  to  be 
peculiar  in  the  fact  that  when  being  cured  for  hay  they  are  not 
injured  by  rain.  Good  farmers  in  the  United  States  never 
permit  their  hay  to  be  wet,  if  they  can  help  it.  Some  of  the 
New  England  farmers  not  only  try  to  protect  it  against  rain, 
but  they  cover  the  cocks  with  tarpaulin  to  prevent  the  dew 
from  touching  it.  But  with  all  the  care  that  can  be  exercised, 
the  hay  crop  in  the  United  States  is  frequently  injured  and 
sometimes  almost  destroyed  by  showery  weather  in  harvest 
time.  Not  so  is  it  in  England.  I  saw  in  London  as  clean, 
bright  hay,  as  free  from  mould  and  dust,  as  I  ever  saw  any 
where,  and  yet  there  was  not  a  ton  of  it  that  had  not  been 
rained  upon  when  it  was  being  cured.  I  spent  a  week  with 
Mr.  John  "W.  Cater,  the  lessee  of  a  fine  crown  estate  near 
Barnet,  who  was  not  only  one  of  the  most  intelligent  business 
men  of  London,  but  who  had  a  good  knowledge  of  farming 
also.  As  I  rode  up  to  his  house,  I  perceived  a  field  in  which 
the  grass  had  been  cut  and  was  lying  in  wind-rows.  It  had 
rained  the  day  before,  and  on  that  day,  and  on  that  account 
it  could  not  be  moved  ;  and  there  were  showers  every  day 
during  my  visit.  The  grass  was  in  wind-rows  when  I  first 
saw  it  on  Monday ;  it  was  in  wind-rows  on  Saturday,  and  I 
supposed  that  it  was  ruined.  A  week  or  two  after  I  met  Mr. 
Cater,  and  asked  him  how  his  hay  turned  out.  "  Oh,  all 
right,"  he  replied  ;  "  rain  does  not  hurt  hay  in  England."  A 
country,  thought  I,  in  which  the  best  grasses  grow  luxuriantly 
and  are  not  injured  by  rain  when  being  cured  for  hay,  must 
be,  for  stock  growing,  one  of  the  best  in  the  world ;  and  such 
England  is.  In  this  line  she  is  not  likely  to  be  outri vailed. 
The  wealth  of  Great  Britain  has  not,  of  course,  been  largely 
acquired  by  agriculture.  It  is  her  manufactures  and  her  ship- 


432     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

ping,  the  enterprise  of  her  people  and  the  wisdom  of  her 
rulers,  that  have  made  her  the  rich  and  powerful  nation  that 
she  is;  but  in  considering  her  present  and  prospective  con 
dition,  the  productive  power  of  her  land  is  not  to  be  over 
looked.  I  have  referred  to  English  farming  because  I  have 
always  been,  as  Mr.  Horace  Greeley  was,  a  farmer,  a  farmer 
of  the  same  kind,  and  found  use  for  what  little  money  I  had 
to  spare  in  the  cultivation  or  improvement  of  land.  My 
expenses  in  this  direction  have  always  exceeded  the  income, 
but  I  have  been  amply  repaid  for  my  outlays,  for  no  part  of 
my  varied  life  has  been  enjoyed  so  thoroughly  as  the  small 
part  of  it  which  has  been  spent  on  the  farm. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

English  Society— Introductions — Exchange  of  Cards — Primogeniture  Unfa 
vorable  to  Chivalry — Difference  in  the  Manners  of  Society  Grades — Aris 
tocratic  Exclusiveness — The  Landed  Gentry — Effect  of  Leaseholds  upon 
Building — London  a  Well-governed  City — Observance  of  Sunday — 
Paupers'  Exchange — Condition  of  Workingmen — Conversation  with  a 
Policeman — Economy  of  the  English— Station  more  Honored  than  Wealth 
— House  of  Lords — Esteem  in  which  Noblemen  are  Held — The  Throne — 
Queen  Victoria — Her  Family — The  Prince  of  Wales — The  Empress  of 
Germany. 

UPOX  English  society  I  have  but  little  to  say.  Enough  has 
been  said  upon  it  by  those  who  have  had  greater  opportu 
nities  for  observing  it.  There  is  little  real  difference,  it  seems  to 
me,  between  what  is  called  good  society  in  England  and  good 
society  in  the  United  States.  It  is  at  the  dinner  table  that 
the  Englishman  throws  off  his  reserve  and  exhibits  his  true 
character ;  and  I  failed  to  observe  anything  at  the  table  of  the 
English  gentleman,  in  the  manners  or  style  of  either  the  host 
or  the  guests,  to  remind  me  that  I  was  out  of  my  own  country, 
except  that  there  were  no  introductions.  The  increased  inter 
course  between  the  people  of  the  two  countries  has  produced 
some  change  in  this  respect,  but  I  had  been  more  than  a  year 
in  London  before,  at  a  dinner  party,  I  was  introduced  to  any 
one  (stranger  although  I  was),  except  to  the  host  and  the  lady 
whom  I  took  down  to  the  table,  and  yet  some  of  the  pleasant- 
est  acquaintances  which  I  formed  in  London  were  at  such 
parties.  As  I  did  not  like  to  confine  my  conversation  to  the 
lady  I  took  in,  and  still  less  not  to  be  talking  to  any  one,  I 
invariably  put  my  dinner  card  before  my  next  neighbor,  and 
took  his  or  hers  in  return,  merely  remarking  that  I  was  an 
American,  and  hoped  to  be  pardoned  for  the  libertv  I  was 
taking.  "  I  thank  you,"  or  "  Thanks,"  was  always  the  return 
28 


434     MEX  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

which  I  received  for  mv   self-introduction.     One  evening  at 

v  O 

the  house  of  a  distinguished  merchant  I  happened  to  sit 
between  two  ladies — one  I  had  taken  down,  to  the  other  I  had 
not  been  introduced.  After  a  pleasant  talk  with  the  former, 
I  placed  my  card  before  the  latter,  and  took  hers.  She  seemed 
surprised,  but  pleased.  The  ice  was  broken,  and  we  were  at 
once  on  pleasant  terms.  She  was  a  handsome  woman  and  a 
brilliant  talker,  and  I  had  more  than  I  could  do  to  keep  even 
with  her.  As  we  were  about  to  separate,  she  said  to  me  in  an 
undertone,  "  I  shall  never  forget  your  kindness  in  relieving  me 
from  that  horrid  man,"  glancing  at  the  one  who  was  sitting 
by  her  side  and  had  taken  her  to  the  table.  u  That  horrid 
man "  (now  deceased),  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
novelists  of  the  day,  whom  I  had  met  some  years  before  in 
Washington,  at  the  house  of  the  British  Minister,  Sir  Fred 
erick  Bruce.  Primogeniture — the  highest  place  for  the  eldest 
son — gives  precedence  to  boys  over  girls,  and  tends  to  lessen 
women  in  the  social  scale.  The  deference  which  is  shown  to 
women  by  gentlemen  in  the  United  States,  is  not  often  wit 
nessed  in  England.  "  That  horrid  man "  could  have  made 
himself  agreeable  to  the  lady  by  his  side  if  he  had  been  so 
disposed  ;  but  in  his  intercourse  with  women  he  was  thoroughly 
English,  and  his  manner  was  displeasing  to  a  highly  cultivated 
lady.  English  gentlemen  are  not  distinguished  for  their 
chivalry  in  their  intercourse  with  the  other  sex. 

Introductions  are  exceptional  at  receptions  and  other  large 
assemblies,  as  well  as  at  dinner  parties.  London  is  so  large  a 
city  that  a  visitor  may  go  to  a  score  of  such  gatherings  with 
out  meeting  any  one  he  has  ever  met  before.  I  went,  by  special 
invitation,  to  a  party  given  by  a  member  of  Parliament,  who 
had  been  a  frequent  guest  at  my  house.  There  was  no  one 
whom  I  could  see  in  the  throng  that  I  had  ever  met  before, 
except  the  host  and  hostess,  and  they  did  not  take  the  trouble 
to  introduce  me  to  any  one.  The  only  exceptions  to  what 
seemed  to  me  a  want  of  good  manners  in  this  respect  were  in 


TRADESPEOPLE    AXD    "SOCIETY.'"  435 

the  houses  of  the  aristocracy.  I  took  my  daughter — a  young 
girl — with  me  to  a  party  given  by  a  distinguished  duke,  at  his 
interesting  old  mansion  in  Piccadilly.  The  lady  who  received 
with  him  was,  I  understood,  his  daughter-in-law,  and  three  or 
four  times  during  the  evening  she  left  her  place  at  the 
entrance  of  the  drawing-room  to  introduce  me  and  my  daughter 
to  those  whom  she  thought  we  would  like  to  know.  I  noticed 
wherever  I  went  that  there  was  more  ease  and  freedom — less 
of  form  and  exaction — in  the  noble  families  (always  excepting 
the  royal  head)  than  in  those  of  lower  degree.  A  knight — 
one  who  has  taken  the  first  step  on  the  social  ladder — is 
prouder  of  his  rank  than  one  who  stands  among  those  who 
are  nearest  to  the  throne.  To  address  a  knight  without  the 
"Sir"  or  his  wife  without  the  "Lady,"  would  be  an  offense 
not  readily  forgiven.  Not  so  is  it  with  men  of  high  station. 
"  Mr.  McCulloch,  will  you  take  my  wife,"  said  a  distinguished 
earl,  at  a  dinner  which  was  given  by  him  to  me  soon  after  I 
went  to  London,  in  recognition  of  the  position  I  had  held  in 
the  United  States, — "  Mr.  McCulloch,  will  you  take  my  wife 
to  the  table  ? "  Had  he  been  a  knight,  he  would  have  said, 
"  Will  you  take  Lady  -  -  ? "  The  high  honors  which  rest 
upon  dukes,  earls  and  lords,  are  easily  borne :  the  honor  of 
knighthood  seems  to  be  burdensome. 

The  English  people  are  spoken  of  as  a  nation  of  shop-keep 
ers  ;  but  in  no  country  are  shop-keepers  so  rigidly  excluded 
from  the  society  of  wholesale  merchants,  manufacturers,  law 
yers,  and  other  professional  men,  the  landed  gentry,  etc.,  etc. 
There  are  in  London  hundreds  of  men  engaged  in  the  retail 
trade  who  are  not  only  rich  but  highly  cultured,  and  would 
shine  in  any  company,  who  are  never  seen  as  guests  in  the 
houses  of  the  classes  I  have  named.  If  Mr.  A.  T.  Stewart,  dis 
tinguished  as  he  was  for  intelligence  and  ability,  had  lived  in 
London,  he  would  not  have  been  admitted  into  what  is  called 
good  society.  When  the  line  was  drawn,  or  for  what  reason, 
nobody  seemed  to  know.  The  only  explanation  which  I  heard 


436     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

was,  that  if  retail  merchants  were  admitted  into  such  society, 
they  might  meet  delinquent  if  not  dishonest  customers,  which 
would  not  be  agreeable  to  either  of  them.  The  aristocracy 
is  a  class  by  itself.  Men  of  high  titles  meet  those  of  lower 
station,  in  politics  and  for  party  purposes,  on  an  equality  ;  and 
some  of  them  who  like  good  dinners  (there  are  few  of  them 
who  do  not)  may  be  seen  at  the  tables  of  those  who  are  con 
sidered  socially  beneath  them,  but  it  is  not  expected  that  they 
will  reciprocate. 

To  one  who  goes  to  England  from  a  country  in  which  no 
man  is  honored  for  his  acreage,  no  matter  how  extensive  it 
may  be,  few  things  seem  more  strange  than  the  public  respect 
that  is  paid  to  the  owners  or  lessees  of  land.  If  he  takes  up  a 
provincial  paper,  he  will  see  in  large  type  the  names  of  the 
landed  gentry  in  the  neighborhood,  and  upon  inquiry  he  will 
find  that,  with  few  exceptions,  this  gentry  is  made  up  of  men 
who  have  no  other  especial  claims  to  respect  than  that  they 
are  the  owners  or  occupiers  of  land.  The  land  in  Great 
Britain  is  owned  and  controlled  by  comparatively  few  of  its 
citizens,  and  the  large  estates  are  entailed.  Very  little  land, 
therefore,  is  for  sale  ;  and  prices  are  so  high,  and  conve}rances 
so  expensive,  that  it  is  beyond  the  reach  of  men  of  moderate 
means,  if  the  proprietors  are  able  and  disposed  to  sell.  As  an 
investment,  land  does  not  pay.  The  ordinary  farming  lands 
of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  do  not  yield  two,  perhaps 
not  one,  per  cent,  on  their  estimated  value.  Many  large  pro 
prietors  would  be  land-poor  if  their  holdings  were  confined  to 
agricultural  lands ;  but  they  are  the  owners  also  of  city  and 
town  property,  from  which  their  incomes  are  mainly  derived. 
The  incomes  from  these  sources  to  many  proprietors  are  very 
large,  and  are  steadily  increasing,  as  the  leases  made  many 
years  since,  when  ground  rents  were  low,  are  constantly  expir 
ing,  and  extensions  can  only  be  obtained  by  lessees  at  prices 
which  are  in  accord  with  present  values.  Not  one  landholder 
in  fifty  is  an  owner  in  fee.  I  knew  but  one  man  in  London 


LONDON   ILL   BUILT   BUT   WELL   GOVERNED.  437 

who  occupied  a  house  (except  the  heirs,  or  original  proprie 
tors),  who  was  not  a  tenant,  and  he  was  a  distinguished 
American  banker,  who  had  succeeded  after  much  difficulty 
in  obtaining  the  fee  to  the  lot  upon  which  he  lived. 

This  condition  of  the  ownership  of  the  ground  would  seem 
to  be  a  draAvback  upon  the  growth  of  the  city,  but  it  is  not. 
Rents  are  lower  in  London  than  in  Kew  York,  and  no  city  in 
the  world,  except  some  of  the  new  cities  in  the  United  States, 
is  increasing  so  rapidly  in  population  and  wealth  as  London. 
It  does,  however,  prevent  the  erection  of  substantial  build 
ings.  To  one  who  merely  passes  along  the  streets,  London 
seems  to  be  well  built ;  but  this  is  not  the  case,  and  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  buildings  have  not  been  erected  and  are 
not  really  owned  by  the  owners  of  the  land  on  which  they 
stand.  They  are  not  as  good  as  they  look.  The  house  in 
which  I  lived  for  three  years,  was  the  corner  house  in  a  row  of 
stately  buildings,  but  so  thin  Avere  the  walls  above  the  first 
story,  that  the  conversation  in  the  drawing-room  of  the  adjoin 
ing  building  could  be  heard  distinctly  in  mine.  I  looked  at 
some  houses  that  were  being  built  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
were  to  be  five  stories  high,  and  yet  the  walls  above  the  sec-, 
ond  story  were  only  nine  inches  thick.  "Are  not  these  walls 
too  thin  ?  "  I  asked  a  man  who  appeared  to  be  superintending 
the  work  ;  a  are  not  these  walls  too  thin  for  such  high  build 
ings  ? "  "  They  are  rather  thin,"  he  replied  ;  "  but  they  will 
last  as  long  as  the  lease,  which  runs  out  in  fifty  years."  Lon 
don  houses  are  not  only  poorly  built,  but  they  are  incon 
venient.  I  speak,  of  course,  of  those  which  I  saw  some  years 
ago.  I  examined  a  number  on  different  streets  at  the  West 
End,  and  all  of  them,  including  the  one  which  I  took,  seemed 
to  have  been  built  so  as  to  necessitate  the  employment  of  the 
largest  number  of  servants. 

But  if  London  is  not  well  built,  it  is  a  well-governed  city. 
In  returning  from  parties  at  late  hours  in  the  night,  when  my 
family  were  not  with  me,  I  always  walked,  and  frequently 


438     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

through  the  parks  and  streets  that  were  only  partially  lighted, 
without  ever  being  molested.  A  gentleman  from  Brooklyn, 
]Srew  York,  who  was  troubled  with  sleeplessness,  said  to  me 
that  for  months  he  had  spent  a  good  part  of  every  night  in 
the  London  streets,  and  he  never  felt  that  he  was  less  safe 
there  than  he  would  have  been  in  a  country  village.  My 
conclusion  in  regard  to  the  government  of  London  was  that 
in  the  protection  which  was  given  to  persons  and  property, — 
in  the  carefulness  with  which  the  immense  business  in  its 
crowded  thoroughfares  was  conducted, — in  the  vigilance  and 
yet  unobtrusiveness  of  its  police, — in  the  management  of  its 
public  vehicles, — that  in  all  these  respects  it  needed  little 
improvement.  In  the  city  proper,  in  which  the  large  and 
most  important  business  was  conducted,  the  streets  were  so 
narrow  that  wagons  in  passing  had  no  room  to  spare,  and  yet 
there  were  no  outcries — no  profane  swearing  and  no  confusion. 
Jams  there  were,  but  they  could  not  be  avoided,  crowded  as 
were  the  streets  from  morning  to  night ;  but  nevertheless 
everything  seemed  to  go  on  in  perfect  order.  The  police  were 
always  at  hand  when  their  presence  was  needed,  and  they 
.never  exercised  their  authority  unnecessarily.  The  cabs  and 
hansoms  were  under  such  control,  that  packages  left  in  them 
were  sure  to  be  recovered.  My  niece  remarked  one  day  as 
she  came  into  the  house,  that  she  had  left  her  umbrella  in  the 
cab.  "  It  is  lost  then,"  I  said.  "  No,"  she  replied,  "  I  shall 
find  it  to-morrow  at  Scotland  Yard,"  which  she  did,  and 
she  recovered  it  at  the  expense  of  a  shilling.  A  lady  dropped 
her  purse  containing  a  considerable  amount  of  money  in  a 
hansom,  and  did  not  discover  her  loss  until  she  had  entered 
her  own  house.  It  was  recovered  the  next  day,  with  its  con 
tents  undisturbed.  All  such  things  I  noticed,  and  was  most 
favorably  impressed  with  them.  Freedom  and  order  seemed 
to  go  hand  in  hand.  Xobody  was  interfered  with  who  was 
not  in  somebody's  way. 

London  cannot  be  seen  to  advantn<re  when  the  streets  are 


SUNDAY    IN    THE    CITY.  439 

crowded,  as  most  of  them  are  on  week  days.  The  only  pleas 
ant  drives  that  I  had  in  the  city  were  on  Sunday  mornings 
when  the  shops  were  closed,  all  traffic  suspended,  and  the 
great  city  was  as  noiseless  as  if  it  had  been  deserted.  I  rode, 
one  Sunday  morning  three  miles  without  seeing  a  single  per 
son  on  the  streets  except  here  and  there  a  policeman.  Later 
in  the  day,  if  the  weather  was  pleasant,  there  would  be  move 
ments — chiefly  of  the  laboring  classes — towards  the  parks, 
which  are  the  great  places  of  popular  resort  on  that  day,  and 
which  are  occupied  by  as  well  behaved  people,  men,  women 
and  children,  as  can  be  found  in  the  world.  AVhat  surprised 
me  on  such  mornings,  was  the  cleanness  of  the  streets,  no 
matter  how  early  I  rode  through  them.  Those  which  were 
the  most  crowded — on  which  were  the  small  retail  and  huck 
ster  shops  which  were  kept  open  until  midnight  on  Saturdays, 
and  were  consequently  well  littered,  were  as  clean  the  next 
morning  as  if  they  had  not  been  used  the  day  before.  Sunday 
in  London  is — what  it  should  be  everywhere,  but  what  it  is  not 
in  any  European  city  outside  of  Great  Britain — a  da)7  of  rest 
and  relaxation.  It  is  not  only  in  the  morning,  but  all  day,  a 
wonderfully  quiet  city.  The  churches  are  all  open,  but  there 
are  no  loud  ringing  bells.  They  are  well  filled,  but  chiefly 
by  those  who  live  in  their  neighborhoods,  and  who  go  to  them 
on  foot.  I  ought  to  limit  this  statement  to  those  outside  of 
the  old  city  (which  constitutes  a  small  part  of  London),  for, 
with  one  exception,  those  in  the  old  city  are  not  well  filled. 
The  well-to-do  people  of  London  no  longer  live  in  that  quar 
ter  ;  but  there  are  a  number  of  churches  there  which  are  kept 
open,  and  in  which  regular  services  are  maintained,  as  valuable 
livings  which  belong  to  them  might  be  forfeited  if  they  were 
closed.  I  looked  into  one  of  them  which  was  near  the  Royal 
Exchange,  one  Sunday  forenoon,  from  curiosity.  The  rector 
was  reading  his  sermon  with  considerable  earnestness,  but 
unless  heads  were  hidden  by  the  high  backs  of  the  slips,  there 
were  but  six  hearers.  The  exception  referred  to  was  the  old 


440  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

and  beautiful  church  (St.  Martin,  I  think  it  was  called),  which 
is  a  very  rich  church,  and  upon  which  every  year  a  large 
amount  of  money  must  be  expended  in  decorations  according 
to  the  terms  of  the  grant  made  many  years  before,  the  income 
from  which  could  not  be  devoted  to  any  other  purpose.  As 
there  has  been  no  improvement  since  Wren  in  church  archi 
tecture  or  church  decorations,  this  church  is  probably  less 
beautiful  than  it  was  a  century  ago,  but  its  history  is  interest 
ing,  and  such  pleasant  associations  are  connected  with  it,  and 
the  rectors  are  usually  so  able,  that  its  congregation  continues 
to  be  large  and  respectable. 

I  have  said  that  all  traffic  was  suspended  in  London  on 
Sundays.  There  were,  however,  two  exceptions — the  rag  fair 
at  St.  Giles,  and  what  was  called  the  Paupers'  Exchange,  on  a 
cross  street  between  South  Kensington  and  Exeter  street, 
both  of  which  were  opened  every  Sunday  forenoon.  I  never 
witnessed  the  former,  but  I  stumbled  upon  the  latter  accident 
ally,  and  was  so  much  interested  in  the  proceedings  that  I  was 
an  observer  of  it  a  number  of  times.  The  street  was  narrow 
and  the  buildings  with  which  it  wras  lined  were  of  the  worst 
description,  and  swarming  with  inhabitants.  The  exchange 
was  opened  at  11  o'clock  by  some  signal  which  the  operators 
seemed  to  understand,  and  suddenly  a  large  number  of  men 
and  women,  the  majority  of  them  from  the  lower  and  subter 
ranean  apartments  made  their  appearance,  with  their  arms 
full  of  all  sorts  of  wearing  apparel,  which  had  been  picked  up 
during  the  week,  and  the  traffic  commenced.  Each  had  some 
thing  to  sell  or  exchange,  and  sales  and  exchanges  were  made 
with  great  earnestness ;  but  there  was  no  noisy  excitement, 
in  which  respect  it  greatly  differed  from  the  Stock  Exchange. 
The  language  of  the  operators  was  unintelligible  to  outsiders, 
but  it  was  well  understood  by  themselves.  A  more  unsightly 
set  of  people  were  never  congregated  under  the  sun  than  those 
who  were  thus  engaged  in  a  Sunday  morning  traffic.  I  asked 
an  old  man  who  was  standing  on  the  sidewalk  near  my  car- 


A  WATCHMAN'S  STORY.  441 

riage  how  long  this  traffic  had  been  carried  on  at  that  place. 
•'  Indeed,  sir,"  he  replied,  "  I  cannot  tell  you.  Nobody 
knows/'  It  seemed  to  me  very  odd  that  such  a  scene  should 
be  witnessed  in  the  nineteenth  century,  in  the  most  Sabbath- 
observing  city  in  the  world. 

The  workingmen  of  London  are  poorly  paid  in  com 
parison  with  the  workingmen  of  New  York,  but  as  far  as  I 
could  judge  they  lived  as  well,  or  better.  The  reason  for  this 
seemed  to  be  that  rents  and  everything  used  and  consumed  in 
the  families,  except  meats,  were  lower  in  London  than  in  New 
York,  and  that  the  English  workingmen  were  better  managers 
and  mo^e  economical  than  the  workingmen  of  the  United 
States.  Having  understood  that  the  watchmen  in  London 
were  receiving  only  a  pound  a  week  for  their  services,  I 
thought  that  I  would  like  to  know  how  they  managed  to 
live  on  so  small  pay,  so  I  asked  a  night  watchman  on  the 
square  where  I  lived  if  he  had  a  family.  u  I  have,  sir,"  said 
he ;  "  I  have  a  wife  and  three  children."  "And  can  you  live 
comfortably  on  a  pound  a  week  ? "  (In  United  States  money, 
seventy  cents  a  day.)  "  Yes,  sir,"  he  replied ;  "  we've  managed 
to  get  along  so  far,  and  as  two  of  my  children  will  soon  be  able 
to  earn  something,  I  am  pretty  well  satisfied."  '*  "Will  you  tell 
me,"  I  asked  again,  "  how  you  manage  to  make  both  ends 
meet — you  don't  run  in  debt,  I  hope  ?  "  "  Oh,  no,  sir,  I  never 
runs  in  debt ;  I  knows  just  how  much  I  am  to  get  each  week, 
and  as  the  saying  is,  I  cuts  my  coat  according  to  the  cloth.  I 
cannot  tell  you  exactly  how  much  everything  costs,  but  I  can 
tell  you  what  we  do :  In  the  first  place  we  sets  aside  what 
we  have  to  pay  each  month  for  rent ;  and  next  what  Ave  have 
to  pay  for  coal ; — we  must  have  a  roof  over  our  heads  and  fire 
to  cook  with  and  keep  us  warm  when  the  weather  is  cold  ; — 
then  a  few  pennies  are  laid  aside  which  go  to  the  society,  that 
will  give  us  a  decent  burial ;  then  we  calculates  just  how  much 
we  can  spend  a  day  for  food,  and  have  enough  left  over  for 
clothing,  and  a  little  besides.  We  usually  have  meat  once  and 


442     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

sometimes  twice  a  week,  and  always  on  Sundays,  and  we  have 
plenty  of  potatoes  and  bread.  The  city  furnishes  me  with 
two  suits  of  clothes  a  year,  and  my  wife  buys  the  cloth  for  the 
other  things  I  needs,  and  for  her  clothes  and  the  children's,  and 
she  makes  them  up.  I  helps  her  myself,  sometimes,  about  the 
housework."  "  You  say,"  I  remarked,  "  you  have  a  little  left 
over ;  what  do  you  do  with  that  ?  "  "  Oh,  sir,  that  is  put  in 
the  savings  bank,  so  that  we  may  have  something  to  fall  back 
upon  if  any  of  us  gets  sick."  "Do  you  drink  any  liquor?" 
"  No,  sir."  "  Not  even  beer  '( "  "  Not  often.  I  likes  a  glass  of 
beer  as  well  as  anybody,  but  [  might  lose  my  place  if  I  was 
often  seen  in  beer  shops,  and  I  can  get  along  just  as  well 
without  it ;  besides,  sir,  I  could  not  afford  to  drink  beer  if  I 
wanted  to."  "  A  good  many  of  your  class,"  I  said,  '"'  do  drink 
it,  and  a  good  deal  of  it."  "That  is  true,  sir;  and  a  good 
many  of  them  dies  in  the  almshouse."  "  Do  you  take  nothing 
in  these  long,  chilly  nights '(  "  "  Nothing  but  tea,  sir,  which 
my  wife  makes  for  me.  I  takes  a  bottle  of  it  in  my  pocket,  and 
drinks  that  as  I  takes  my  rounds.  It  is  a  good  deal  cheaper, 
and  I  am  sure  it  is  a  good  deal  better  for  me  than  beer." 
"  One  question  more,  and  I  have  done  ;  how  is  it  about  your 
children  ;  you  don't  let  them  grow  up  in  ignorance,  I  suppose  ? 
Who  teaches  them  ?  "  "  They  goes  to  the  free  school,  sir  ;  we 
have  free  schools  now  in  London."  I  was  a  good  deal  inter 
ested  in  this  man's  story,  which  I  drew  out  of  him  by  ques 
tions.  Here  was  a  man  supporting  himself  and  his  family 
on  seventy  cents  a  day,  and  yet  hale,  hearty  and  contented. 
Who  are  more  entitled  to  respect  than  such  men ! 

I  have  said  that  the  workingmen  of  England  were  more 
economical  than  the  workingmen  of  the  United  States,  but 
economy  in  England  is  not  confined  to  those  who  are  com 
pelled  to  practise  it;  it  is  a  trait  in  the  English  character. 
There  are  no  more  hospitable  people  in  the  world  than  the 
English  ;  none  that  spend  their  money  more  liberally  in  the 
support  of  public  and  private  charities ;  but  they  spend  noth- 


CHEAP    PKOVISIONS    AND    LITTLE   WASTE.  443 

ing  for  show,  and  for  services  rendered  to  them  they  pay  no 
more  than  they  think  the  services  are  worth.  Rich  English 
men  are  frequently  seen  in  second-class  coaches  on  the  Con 
tinent,  and  they  never  throw  their  money  away  as  they  think 
the  Americans  do  upon  porters  and  waiters  at  station  houses. 
Americans,  they  say,  have  made  travelling  in  Europe  much 
more  expensive  than  it  used  to  be,  and  than  it  ought  to  be. 
One  day  at  the  Liverpool  station  I  gave  to  the  porter,  for 
taking  my  baggage  from  the  cab  and  placing  it  upon  the  train, 
a  two-shilling  piece.  Just  then  another  porter  came  along, 
with  two  or  three  large  packages  belonging  to  a  wealthy 
young*  merchant  who  stood  by  me,  and  received  for  his  ser 
vices  a  sixpence,  for  which  this  porter  bowed  as  humbly  as 
mine  did  for  four  times  as  much.  Everywhere  I  went  I 
noticed  that  in  all  small  matters  the  English  were  closer  in 
their  dealings,  and  altogether  less  liberal  in  their  expenditures 
than  Americans.  Very  little  is  wasted  in  England — none  in 
France.  A  French  village  of  three  hundred  inhabitants  would 
live  well  on  what  is  wasted  in  one  of  the  large  American 
hotels.  If  the  food  which  supplies  the  people  of  the  United 
States  were  properly  cooked  and  none  of  it  wasted,  it  would 
well  support  twice  the  number  of  people ;  and  here  I  remark 
that  nothing  is  more  needed  in  the  United  States,  and  espe 
cially  in  the  farming  districts  of  the  West,  than  good  cooking. 
Nothing  is  more  conducive  to  health  and  thrift  than  well- 
cooked  food.  Every  girl,  no  matter  what  may  be  her  station 
in  life,  ought  to  know  how  to  cook.  There  should  be  cooking 
schools  in  all  our  towns  and  villages — they  would  not  be  out 
of  place  if  they  were  in  every  school  district.  Happy  homes 
would  be  more  frequent  than  they  now  are  in  the  United 
States  if  their  mistresses  knew  how  to  instruct  their  cooks, 
although  their  circumstances  might  be  such  as  to  relieve  them 
from  doing  it  themselves. 

I  have  said  that  everything,  except  meats,  was  cheaper  in 
England  than  in  the  United  States.     There  are  no  taxes  upon 


444  MEN   AND   MEASUKES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

food  and  clothing,  and  sellers  are  contented  with  small  profits. 
They  do  not  expect  to  become  suddenly  rich ;  they  are  quite 
content  if  they  are  doing  what  will  secure  for  them  a  moderate 
competency  in  a  lifetime.  Many  Englishmen,  by  their  superior 
abilities  and  forecast,  have  become  rich,  but  none  have  acquired 
within  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  such  large  fortunes  as 
have  been  acquired  in  the  United  States.  Very  few  have 
made  money  rapidly.  It  is  true  that  the  wealth  of  Great 
Britain  has  been  enormously  increased  within  the  last  half 
century — much  more  rapidly  indeed  than  in  any  other  country 
except  the  United  States — but  it  has  been  widely  distributed. 
If  there  are  fewer  millionaires  in  that  country,  there  are 
comparatively  more  men  with  large,  or  at  least  satisfactory 
incomes,  than  in  our  own.  Wealth  is  not  worshipped  in  Great 
Britain,  nor  does  it  command  respect  there,  no  matter  how 
acquired.  No  man  who  had  betrayed  his  trust  and  compro 
mised  with  his  successor  by  the  payment  of  millions  of  dollars, 
and  made  the  amount  which  he  still  retained  the  basis  of  a 
colossal  fortune,  could  have  been  admitted  into  good  society 
in  that  country,  much  less  could  he  have  become  prominent 
and  respected.  To  rise  there  in  the  social  scale  is  considered 
more  worthy  of  ambition  than  to  become  rich.  Wealth  is  a 
power  in  all  countries,  but  it  is  not  in  England  nor  in  any  part 
of  Europe  regarded  as  the  main  thing  to  live  for,  nor  is  it  a 
passport  to  a  high  order  of  society,  as  it  seems  to  be  in  the 
United  States. 

The  English  people  seemed  to  me  to  be  happier — more 
contented  with  their  situation  in  life — to  take  life  easier,  than 
any  I  had  known.  I  did  not  see  in  their  faces  that  careworn 
and  anxious  expression  which  is  so  common  in  the  United 
States.  The  envied  and  the  enviable  people  are,  of  course, 
the  titled  and  landed  aristocracy.  There  is  no  country  in  the 
world  where  rank  is  so  highly  honored  and  so  justly  merits 
the  honor  which  it  commands.  It  is  either  an  honorable 
inheritance,  or  it  is  conferred  by  the  Crown  as  a  fitting  recog- 


THE   HOUSE   OF   LORDS.  445 

nition  of  services  in  the  army,  the  navy,  in  diplomacy,  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  or  for  a  high  order  of  ability  in  civil  life. 
In  some  instances  it  has  been  conferred  for  political  purposes, 
as  when  private  citizens  have  been  made  barons,  to  give  the 
dominant  party  (which  is  for  the  time  being  the  Government) 
additional  strength  in  the  House  of  Lords  ;  but  this  has  been 
exceptional,  and  when  the  authority  of  the  Crown  to  make 
peers  has  been  thus  exercised,  that  it  has  never  been  in  dero 
gation  of  the  high  character  of  that  House.  Those  who  are  of 
high  rank  by  inheritance — the  large  landed  proprietors — are 
very  rarely  degenerate.  It  is  the  boast  of  the  supporters  of 
the  present  form  of  the  British  Government,  that  the  peers  by 
inheritance,  with  a  long  line  of  distinguished  ancestors,  are 
inferior  in  no  respect  to  those  who  from  time  to  time  are  made 
peers  by  the  Sovereign.  Rank  in  Great  Britain  is  honorable 
and  justly  honored.  The  House  of  Commons  is  the  popular 
branch  of  the  Government ;  the  House  of  Lords,  the  aristo 
cratic.  In  measures  of  reform,  the  Commons  are  expected  to 
take  the  lead ;  but  in  the  support  of  measures  that  affect  the 
honor  and  welfare  of  the  Empire,  it  is  claimed  that  the  Lords 
are  no  less  earnest  than  the  Commons ;  that  in  the  slow  but 
steady  progress  that  Great  Britain  has  made  from  the  govern 
ment  of  the  few  to  the  government  of  the  many,  in  the  suc 
cessful  efforts  that  have  been  put  forth  to  root  out  the  corrup 
tions  which  in  the  last  century  existed  in  all  branches  of  the 
public  service,  the  Lords  have  done  their  full  share.  It  is  the 
conservative  branch  of  the  realm,  and  by  the  leaders  of  radi 
cal  movements  it  has  been  charged  with  being  in  the  way  of 
progress,  or  at  least  indifferent  to  the  rights  of  the  people. 
In  its  defence  it  is  contended  that  its  conservatism  has  been 
used,  not  to  prevent  progress,  but  to  hinder  it  from  being  too 
rapid  to  be  permanent ;  that  it  has  exercised  its  power  so 
wisely  that  all  steps  for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of 
the  people  have  been  without  reaction ;  that  it  has  been  as 
much  by  the  agency  of  the  House  of  Lords  as  of  the  Com- 


446     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

mons  that  there  is  no  other  country  in  the  world  in  which 
life  and  property  are  better  protected,  in  which  taxes  are  less 
burdensome,  and  larger  freedom  enjoyed. 

The  House  of  Lords  is  peculiar  in  its  construction.  It  is 
composed  of  archbishops  and  bishops,  who  hold  their  seats 
by  virtue  of  their  office ;  of  English  peers  who  hold  by  inheri 
tance  or  by  appointment ;  of  Scotch  and  Irish  peers  who  hold 
by  election.  Of  the  five  classes,  besides  archbishops  and 
bishops,  into  which  they  are  divided,  the  dukes  are  the  high 
est — the  barons  the  lowest ;  and  between  these,  socially,  there 
is  a  very  wide,  if  not  insurmountable  difference ;  and  yet  when 
in  session  they  are  upon  a  perfect  equality.  The  standing  and 
influence  of  members  in  the  House  of  Lords,  as  well  as  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  depend  upon  their  abilities,  and 
not  upon  their  rank.  There  is  a  prevailing  opinion  in  the 
United  States  that  a  popular  prejudice  prevails  in  England 
against  the  House  of  Lords ;  but  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  its 
members  stand  next  to  the  Queen  in  the  respect  and  admira 
tion  of  the  great  mass  of  the  English  people.  The  House  of 
Lords  will  exist  as  long  as  the  throne  exists,  and  it  is  not 
likely  to  be  deprived  of  any  of  what  are  now  regarded  as  its 
legitimate  powers.  Great  Britain  may  become  a  republic, 
but  it  will  not  be  until  it  is  proven  by  the  experiment  in  the 
United  States  that  the  people  are  not  only  capable  of  self- 
government,  but  that  they  are  freer  and  happier  under  a 
republic  than  they  can  be  under  a  limited  and  constitutional 
monarchy.  In  all  the  governments  of  which  there  is  a  his 
tory,  republics  have  been  exceptional  and  brief  in  their  exist 
ence;  the  inference  from  which  is,  that  monarchy  in  some 
form  or  other  has  been  a  necessity.  If  the  experiment  in  the 
United  States  (for  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  it  is  anything 
more  than  an  experiment — a  hundred  years  being  quite  insuffi 
cient  to  test  the  strength  and  stability  of  republican  institu 
tions  in  a  country  so  vast,  so  new,  and  with  resources  so  enor 
mous,  and  into  which  the  surplus  population  of  all  other 


LOYALTY   TO   THE   THKONE.  447 

nations  is  steadily  flowing) ;  if  the  experiment  should  be  a 
failure  in  the  United  States,  centuries  will  doubtless  come  and 
go  before  it  is  tried  again  on  a  large  scale. 

The  House  of  Lords  commands  the  admiration  of  the 
people  because  it  is  composed  entirely  of  titled  men,  some  of 
whom  in  rank  stand  next  to  the  throne.  To  be  appointed  a 
peer  is  the  highest  honor  that  can  be  conferred  upon  a  subject 
— an  honor  which  is  not  often  conferred  except  upon  those  who 
are  justly  regarded  as  being  worthy  of  the  distinction.  To 
become  a  peer  is  to  become  ennobled.  It  is  an  honor  earnestly 
desired,  but  never  obtained  by  solicitation.  Peers  of  distin 
guished  ancestry,  and  their  sons,  seem  to  be  regarded,  not 
only  by  the  masses,  but  by  men  of  good  social  position  and  of 
more  than  ordinary  intelligence,  as  being  superior  in  blood. 
One  day  at  the  house  of  an  eminent  merchant,  the  conversa 
tion  happened  to  turn  upon  the  peerage.  The  host  was  well 
acquainted  with  many  prominent  peers  and  their  sons,  and  it 
was  soon  apparent  to  me  that  the  respect  which  he  had  for 
them  was  owing  not  only  to  their  personal  characters,  but  to 
their  high  station,  and  I  ventured  to  say  to  him  that  I  sup 
posed  that,  like  other  Englishmen,  he  regarded  them  as  being 
of  better  blood  than  men  of  inferior  rank.  "  Yes,"  said  he, 
"  I  do.  You  Americans  believe  that  there  is  no  difference  in 
blood  :  that  as  good  blood  flows  in  the  veins  of  a  laboring  man 
as  in  the  veins  of  a  prince ;  we  Englishmen  do  not — we  believe 
in  blood — that  the  best  is  in  the  royal  family,  the  next  in  the 
peers  and  their  sons."  It  is  the  boast  of  genuine  Englishmen 
that  their  great  landed  aristocracy  has  not  become  degenerate ; 
that  some  of  the  purest  and  best  men  of  the  nation  are  always 
found  in  its  ranks. 

I  have  said  that  the  peers,  next  in  rank  to  the  royal  family, 
are  next  to  it  in  the  respect  and  admiration  of  the  people. 
Loyalty  to  the  throne  is  inborn  in  Englishmen  ;  it  has  survived 
the  severest  tests.  It  was  severely  tried  under  the  Henrys, 
the  Charleses,  and  the  Georges,  but  it  was  not  uprooted  nor 


448     MEX  AXD  MEASUHES  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY. 

materially  weakened.  Loyalty  to  the  throne  has  been  main 
tained  with  very  slight  interruptions,  no  matter  how  unworthy 
or  disreputable  may  have  been  the  occupants.  That  it  would 
now  stand  the  strain  to  which  it  has  been  subjected  in  times 
past  is  questionable ;  but  there  is  no  probability  that  it  will 
be  tested  again  in  that  way  as  it  has  been.  One  thing  may  be 
regarded  as  certain  :  that  while  the  form  of  government  is  not 
likely  to  be  changed,  no  grossly  immoral  person  will  ever  again 
long  occupy  the  throne.  In  tfce  present  occupant,  the  British 
people  have  been  exceedingly  fortunate.  They  have  had  for 
fifty  years  a  Queen  of  the  very  highest  character,  upon  whose 
reputation  as  a  woman  there  never  has  been  a  cloud,  and  who 
by  the  manner  in  which  she  has  performed  her  official  duties, 
has  commanded  the  respect  of  every  able  man  with  whom  she 
has  come  in  contact.  She  has  done  much  to  improve  the 
moral  tone  of  English  society  ;  much  to  improve  the  character 
of  foreign  courts.  The  monarchs  of  Europe  are  of  a  higher 
type  than  they  have  ever  been  before  ;  not  intellectually,  per 
haps,  but  in  their  moral  qualities.  It  would  be  too  much  to 
say  that  they  have  looked  to  her  as  an  example  ;  but  it  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  her  influence  has  been  felt  by  them. 
Every  crowned  head  in  Europe  is  an 'admirer  of  Queen  Vic 
toria,  and  none  can  fail  to  be  influenced  by  the  qualities  which 
he  admires.  Victoria  is  not  only  one  of  the  purest  of  women, 
but  she  is  one  of  the  most  sensible  of  Queens.  An  autocrat  of 
autocrats,  maintaining  with  great  strictness  the  forms  and  cere 
monies  of  royalty,  she  has  favored  all  well-directed  movements 
for  the  welfare  of  her  people.  She  has  never  antagonized 
popular  movements.  She  has  her  own  opinions  in  regard  to 
all  important  measures  that  are  interesting  to  the  public,  and 
she  expresses  them  to  those  whom  she  admits  to  her  presence 
and  desires  to  influence  ;  but  she  never  interferes  with  legisla 
tion,  or  attempts  to  bring  her  influence  to  bear  directly  upon 
Parliament.  In  sentiment  and  feeling  she  is  a  Tory,  but  she 
treats  the  leading  statesmen  of  both  of  the  great  parties  with 


QUEEN    VICTORIA.  449 

equal  consideration.  Disraeli  was  nearer  to  her  heart  than 
Gladstone,  but  the  latter  never  had  reason  to  complain  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  was  received  by  her.  While  she  does  not 
study  the  details  of  all  important  measures  which  are  before 
Parliament,  there  are  none  which  do  not  receive  her  attention. 
She  manifests  her  interest  in  Parliamentary  proceedings  by 
requiring  a  daily  letter  from  the  Prime  Minister,  and  she 
never  gives  her  approval  to  a  bill  without  understanding  its 
general  scope.  Her  reign  has  been  characterized  by  very 
important  reforms  in  all  branches  of  the  service,  for  which  she 
is  entitled  to  credit ;  and  while  she  has  done  much  to  relieve 
her  subjects  from  unnecessary  restraint,  she  has  done  nothing 
to  lessen  the  influence  or  supremacy  of  the  Crown.  There  is 
restlessness  among  her  people,  as  there  is  among  all  free 
people,  but  the  British  throne  never  rested  on  a  firmer  basis 
than  at  the  present  time. 

That  the  Queen,  by  her  high  character,  her  excellent  com 
mon  sense,  the  manner  in  which  she  has  maintained  the 
dignity  of  the  Crown  while  sympathizing  with  all  the  move 
ments  that  have  been  successfully  made,  during  her  long  reign, 
for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  her  people,  has  done 
much  to  secure  this  result,  there  can  be  no  question.  She  has 
been  criticised  for  the  infrequency  of  her  appearance  in  public, 
and  for  the  etiquette  which  'she  has  enforced  at  Windsor  and 
Osborne ;  but  she  knows,  what  her  critics  do  not  seem  to 
understand,  that  royalty  might  lose  some  of  its  lustre  by 
frequent  exposure,  and  that  etiquette  is  its  necessary  adjunct. 
Although  she  has  kept  herself  aloof  from  her  people,  she  has 
nevertheless  popularized  monarchy,  and  strengthened  its  hold 
upon  the  empire.  She  has  been  fortunate  in  her  family.  The 
death  of  her  husband  was  a  dreadful  blow  to  her,  and  for  a 
time  it  was  feared  it  would  seriously  impair  her  usefulness  and 
her  health  ;  but  she  never  failed  in  the  performance  of  official 
duties,  and  at  the  age  of  seventy  her  mental  powers  are  unim 
paired  and  she  is  physically  stronger  than  most  women  of  her 
29 


450  MEN  AND   MEASURES   OF  HALF  A   CENTURY. 

age.  Few  women  could  endure,  as  she  did,  the  physical  strain 
to  which  she  was  subjected  in  the  recent  jubilee.  Of  her  nine 
children,  seven  are  living  ;  all  are  above  mediocrity ;  some  are 
distinguished  by  their  acquirements  and  artistic  taste.  The 
Prince  of  Wales  is  a  very  clever  man.  He  was  profligate  in 
his  younger  days,  and  great  fears  were  entertained  that  he 
would  severely  try  the  loyalty  of  the  people.  These  fears  no 
longer  exist.  He  is  now  a  social  leader.  Unostentatious  and 
accessible,  he  still  maintains  the  dignity  of  his  rank,  and  there 
will  be  no  letting  down  of  royalty  if  he  should  survive  his 
mother.  Her  oldest  daughter,  the  Empress  of  Germany,  is 
the  most  sagacious  and  talented  of  the  women  of  high  rank  in 
Europe. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

Difference  between  the  Government  of  the  United.  States  and  that  of  Great 
Britain — Powers  and  Duties  of  the  Crown — Appointing  Power — House  of 
Commons — Parliament  more  Democratic  than  Congress — Elections  in 
Great  Britain — The  British  Constitution — Speakers  of  the  House  of  Com 
mons  and  the  House  of  Representatives — Henry  Clay — Robert  C.  Win- 
throp — James  G.  Elaine — John  G.  Carlisle — N.  P.  Banks — James  L.  Orr 
— Schuyler  Colfax — Samuel  J.  Randall— England  as  a  Maritime  Power — 
Ireland  and  the  Irish — Character  and  Habits  of  the  Upper  Classes — The 
Scotch — A  Protracted  Dinner — Taxes  not  Burdensome. 

THE  differences  between  the  governments  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  great  as  man}7  without  examina 
tion  suppose  them  to  be,  are  more  of  form  than  substance. 
They  consist  chiefly  in  the  agencies  employed.  In  what  is 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  people,  the  two  governments  are 
very  much  alike.  In  some  respects  the  British  is  practically 
the  more  democratic.  Which  is  the  freer  and  to  be  preferred 
is  a  question  which  an  American,  strongly  attached  to  his  own 
form  of  government,  finds  it  difficult  to  answer  satisfactorily 
to  himself.  In  Great  Britain  there  is  an  hereditary  monarch  ; 
in  the  United  States  a  President  elected  by  the  people.  The 
monarch,  at  the  commencement  of  its  session,  sends  an  address 
(which  is  understood  to  be  prepared  by  the  Prime  Minister) 
to  Parliament,  in  which  the  condition  of  the  public  service 
and  the  relations  of  the  Government  with  other  nations  are 
briefly  referred  to,  and  this  is  about  all.  The  monarch  advo 
cates  no  measures  of  public  policy,  and  carefully  avoids  expres 
sions  that  might  indicate  sympathy  with  either  of  the  great 
parties  into  which  the  people  of  Great  Britain  are  usually 
divided.  The  President  sends  a  long  and  elaborate  message  to 
Congress,  in  which  he  presents,  with  the  utmost  freedom,  his 
opinions  upon  all  subjects  of  public  interest,  and  advises  the 
adoption  of  such  measures  as  he  thinks  may  promote  the  pub- 


452     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

lie  welfare.  Elected  by  a  party,  and  pledged  to  the  support  of 
its  principles,  it  is  expected  by  party  leaders  that  he  will  admin 
ister  the  Government  in  the  spirit  of  a  partisan.  The  veto 
power  is  vested  in  the  Crown,  but  for  years  it  has  never  been 
exercised.  This  power  is  freely  used  by  the  President,  and, 
although  his  veto  can  be  overruled  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both 
branches  of  the  legislature,  there  is  scarcely  a  session  of  Con 
gress  in  which  the  will  of  the  people,  as  expressed  by  the  legis 
lative  branches  of  the  Government,  is  not  thwarted  by  the 
Executive.  In  Great  Britain  the  appointing  power  is  in  the 
Crown,  but  rare,  indeed,  is  it  that  appointments  are  made  by 
the  sovereign,  and  no  applicant  for  office  would  be  admitted 
to  the  royal  presence.  In  the  United  States  all  important 
offices  are  filled  by  the  President,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  day 
in  which  he  is  not  annoyed  by  office  seekers,  and  for  weeks 
after  a  presidential  election,  and  especially  when  those  who 
have  been  long  the  "  outs  "  have  become  the  "  ins,"  the  press 
ure  upon  him  by  applicants  or  their  friends  is  so  overwhelm 
ing  that  his  position  is  burdensome  in  the  extreme.  No  one 
who  has  not  witnessed  them  can  have  any  proper  conception 
of  the  trials  of  temper  and  of  the  physical  endurance  to  which 
a  new  President  is  subjected.  If  pledged  to  civil  service 
reform  by  the  platform  upon  which  he  was  elected,  the  press 
ure  upon  him  to  disregard  his  pledge  is  often  too  strong  to  be 
resisted.  If  he  is  not  so  pledged,  and  is  disposed  to  divide  the 
offices  among  his  supporters,  he  soon  finds  that  in  the  distri 
bution  (there  being  so  many  more  applicants  than  places),  he 
cannot  help  making  more  enemies  than  friends.  It  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  intelligent  Englishmen  regard  the 
hereditary  monarchy  as  being  preferable  in  this  respect  to  one 
in  which  the  chief  executive  is  elected  by  the  people. 

But  how  is  it  with  the  legislative  branches  of  the  two 
countries?  In  which  is  there  an  exhibition  of  the  greatest  lib 
erty  ?  The  House  of  Lords  is  an  aristocratic  body,  in  the  con 
stitution  of  which  the  people  have  no  voice ; — the  Senate  of  the 


CONGRESS   AND   PARLIAMENT.  453 

United  States  is  also  an  aristocratic  body,  the  members  of 
which  are  elected,  not  directly  by  the  people,  but  by  the  State 
legislatures ; — neither  is  a  direct  representative  of  the  people. 
Men  are  members  of  the  House  of  Lords  by  inheritance,  or  by 
royal  appointment,  in  recognition  of  eminent  services  or  high 
literary  acquirements,  and  usually  without  regard  to  their  poli 
tics.  Men  are  elected  to  the  Senate,  not  certainly  without 
regard  to  their  abilities,  but  invariably  on  party  grounds,  and 
not  infrequently  by  the  use  of  influences  that  would  not  bear 
exposure.  In  the  House  of  Lords,  a  baron,  by  his  superior 
ability,  may  have  greater  influence  than  a  duke.  The  little 
State  of  Delaware,  with  a  single  member  in  the  House,  may 
have,  by  the  superior  ability  of  her  senators,  greater  influence 
in  the  Senate  than  the  great  State  of  New  York,  with  thirty- 
four  members.  A  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  is  the  highest 
honor  that  can  be  conferred  upon  a  subject ;  a  seat  in  the 
Senate,  is  next  to  the  Presidency,  the  highest  political  honor 
that  can  be  attained  by  a  citizen.  The  House  of  Lords  is  the 
aristocratic  and  conservative  body  in  Great  Britain,  and  such 
is  the  Senate  in  the  United  States.  It  is  about  as  great  an 
honor  in  the  United  States  to  be  a  senator,  as  it  is  in  England 
to  be  a  peer. 

The  House  of  Commons  is  the  direct  representative  of  the 
British  people  ;  the  lower  house  of  Congress  is  the  direct 
representative  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  The  mem 
bers  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  elected  by  the  people,  and 
there  are  restrictions  in  regard  to  membership  which  do  not 
exist  in  the  United  States.  No  collector  of  taxes,  no  one 
holding  a  contract  with  the  Government,  no  judge  or  justice, 
no  clergyman  of  the  English  Church,  can  be  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Commons.  No  such  exclusion  from  the 
House  of  Representatives  exists.  There  are  other  differences 
in  the  legislative  branches  of  the  two  countries.  The  mem 
bers  of  the  British  Ministry,  who  constitute  what  is  called  the 
Government,  must  be  members  of  the  House  of  Lords  or  of  the 


454  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF  HALF   A    CENTURY. 

Commons,  and  if  one  is  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
when  appointed  a  minister,  he  must  resign  his  seat  and  be 
indorsed  by  a  new  election  before  he  can  take  the  office.  The 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  not  elected  for  any 
definite  period.  Their  tenure  of  office  depends  upon  the  exist 
ence  of  what  is  for  the  time  being  the  Government,  which 
usually  goes  out  whenever  it  is  beaten  upon  any  very  impor 
tant  measure.  It  is  under  no  legal  or  constitutional  obliga 
tion  to  do  this,  but  such  is  the  rule,  and  it  must  be  obeyed  as 
if  it  were  a  law.  The  actual  Government  of  Great  Britain 
is,  in  fact,  a  part  of  the  legislative  branch.  Members  of  Con 
gress  are  elected  for  two  years,  and  hold  their  places  for  the 
full  term.  The  members  of  the  Cabinet  in  the  United  States 
are  appointed  by  the  President,  and  they  hold  their  offices 
subject  to  his  good  pleasure.  The  Tenure-of-Office  Act  was 
intended  to  take  from  the  President  the  power  of  their 
removal  without  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  but  that  Act  was 
undoubtedly  in  contravention  of  the  constitutional  rights  of 
the  President,  and  it  has  been  substantially  repealed.  The 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  who  are  at  the  head  of  the  sexren 
executive  departments  of  the  Government,  are  not,  and  can 
not  be  members  of  Congress,  but  they  make  to  Congress 
reports  of  the  condition  of  their  respective  departments,  with 
such  recommendations  as  they  may  deem  proper.  Members 
of  the  British  Ministry  make  no  such  reports,  as  they  are 
members  of  Parliament,  and  are  supposed  to  be  prepared  to 
give  all  the  information  that  may  be  required,  and  they  are 
expected  to  advocate  the  measures  which  are  approved  by  the 
Prime  Minister.  All  revenue  measures  in  Great  Britain  must 
originate  in  the  House  of  Commons,  as  they  must  in  the  United 
States  in  the  llouse  of  Representatives.  It  will  thus  be  per 
ceived  that  the  difference  between  the  legislative  branches  of 
the  two  Governments  are  not  practically  of  much  importance, 
and  that,  on  the  whole,  Parliament  in  its  membership  is  more 
flemocratic  than  Congress. 


MONEY   IN    ELECTIONS.  455 

As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  form  an  opinion,  the  elections 
of  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  as  expressive  of  the 
popular  will  as  are  the  elections  of  Congressmen  in  the  United 
States.  I  think,  indeed,  the  true  conclusion  is,  that  the  English 
elections  are  the  more  fairly  and  honestly  conducted.  The 
vote  in  Great  Britain  is  by  secret  ballot.  The  candidates  have 
active  friends  at  the  polls  ;  there  is  free  discussion,  but  there 
is  no  violence  ;  at  least,  there  is  none  until  after  the  polls  are 
closed,  when  beer  and  whiskey  have  been  freely  imbibed. 
Bribery  is  not  practised  in  any  manner  or  form.  If  it  should 
be  shown  that  a  successful  member  had  been  guilty  of  bribery, 
although  a  single  vote  only  might  have  been  thus  secured,  he 
would  lose  his  seat,  no  matter  how  large  his  majority  might 
have  been.  Money  is,  however,  spent,  and  spent  freely,  by 
candidates  (although  members  of  Parliament  receive  no  sala 
ries),  to  cover  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  canvass  ;  and  the 
rule  now  is  for  the  successful  member  to  state  upon  honor  the 
exact  amount  of  his  expenditures.  In  many  Congressional 
districts  in  the  United  States  none  but  men  of  means  can 
afford  to  be  candidates.  The  election  expenses  in  most  of  the 
States  have  been  steadily  increasing  year  by  year,  and  many  a 
candidate  spends  more  in  his  canvass  than  a  member's  salary. 
It  is  generally  understood  that  in  one  or  two  States  a  goodly 
number  of  voters  pay  their  taxes  by  their  votes.  Bribery, 
however,  in  the  United  States  in  elections,  as  well  as  in  other 
matters,  is  now  regarded  as  a  crime,  and  it  is  one  of  the  hope 
ful  signs  of  the  times  that  the  public  sentiment  is  in  the  pro 
cess  of  a  healthful  change,  and  that  bribers  of  all  kinds  are  to 
be  classed  among  the  worst  of  criminals. 

One  hears  a  good  deal  of  talk  in  England  about  the  British 
Constitution,  but  if  one  should  inquire  for  a  copy  he  would  be 
informed  that  there  is  no  instrument  by  which  the  rights  of  the 
sovereign,  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  the  powers  of  Parlia 
ment  are  strictly  defined;  nothing  in  form  like  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States;  and  yet  there  is  a  constitution 


456  MEN    AND    MEASUKES    OF    HALF   A    CENTUEY. 

which  is  strong  and  binding  upon  all  branches  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  which  is  free  from  ambiguity.  It  has  been  of  very 
gradual  formation  from  the  time  of  the  Magna  Charta  ;  by 
concessions  of  the  Throne,  by  acts  of  Parliament,  and  decis 
ions  of  the  courts.  Its  foundation  was  laid  centuries  ago.  It 
has  grown  step  by  step,  and  each  step  has  been  marked  by 
the  progress  of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  liberty.  The  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States,  considering  the  circumstances  in 
which  it  was  formed  and  the  purposes  which  it  accomplished, 
may  be  regarded  as  a  work  of  consummate  wisdom,  approach 
ing  more  nearly  to  divine  inspiration  than  any  work  of  human 
hands.  On  some  important  questions,  however,  it  has  been 
differently  interpreted  by  able  and  honest  men,  and  amend 
ments  are  not  easily  effected ;  while  there  is  enough  of  elas 
ticity  about  the  British  Constitution  to  meet  the  progressive 
demands  of  the  people  without  a  loss  to  civil  liberty,  or  the 
invasion  of  established  rights. 

The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  holds  one  of  the 
most  honorable  and  desirable  places  in  the  British  Govern 
ment.  He  is  elected  by  the  House  from  its  own  members,  but 
his  election  is  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Crown,  which, 
however,  is  never  withheld.  Although  he  is  elected  by  the 
dominant  party,  and  is  in  sympathy  with  it  politically,  it  is 
expected  that  he  will  exercise  his  power  with  perfect  impar 
tiality,  and  that  he  will  not  use  it  to  secure  or  thwart  the 
passage  of  any  bill  wThich  is  before  the  House.  No  Speaker 
has  for  many  years  failed  to  justify  this  expectation.  Not  so 
is  it  in  the  United  States.  The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Kep- 
resentatives  not  unfrequently  uses — indeed,  he  is  expected  to 
use — the  power  which  he  possesses  in  the  service  of  his  party  ; 
and  when  parties  are  pretty  evenly  divided,  it  is  considered  a 
great  gain  for  the  majority  to  have  a  thorough,  not  to  say, 
unscrupulous,  tactician  in  the  chair.  The  Speaker  of  the  House 
in  the  United  States  can  do  much,  without  an  absolute  viola 
tion  of  the  rules,  to  serve  his  political  friends,  to  retard  or 


SPEAKERS    OF   THE  TWO   HOUSES.  457 

to  advance  the  passage  of  bills;  and  it  has  been  rare  that 
there  has  been  a  Speaker  whos^  politics  have  not  been  fre 
quently  indicated  by  his  rulings. "  It  is  to  the  great  credit  of 
John  G.  Carlisle,  the  recent  Speaker,  that  no  one  could  dis 
cover  by  the  manner  in  which  he  performed  his  duties  whether 
he  was  a  Democrat  or  a  Republican. 

Tne  duties  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
are  much  more  arduous  than  are  those  of  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  To  say  nothing  of  the  labor  and  knowl 
edge  which  are  required  in  the  appointment  of  committees, 
the  former  has  to  give  direction  to  much  more  real  business 
than  the  latter,  and  to  decide  twenty  times  as  many  ques 
tions  of  all  kinds.  To  preserve  order,  to  prevent  confusion,  to 
decide  correctly  and  promptly  the  numberless  questions  that 
are  constantly  arising,  and  to  expedite  business,  require  in 
the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  a  ready  knowl 
edge  of  parliamentary  proceedings,  perfect  self-possession, 
great  facility  and  clearness  of  expression,  and  executive  abil 
ity  of  the  highest  order.  For  ability  as  presiding  officers,  no 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  ever  equalled  such  Speak 
ers  of  the  House  of  Representatives  as  Henry  Clay,  Robert  C. 
Winthrop,  James  G.  Elaine  and  John  G.  Carlisle:  scarcely 
inferior  to  whom,  within  my  recollection,  were  Nathaniel  P. 
Banks,  James  L.  Orr,  Schuyler  Colfax,  and  Samuel  J.  Ran 
dall.  The  difference  in  the  compensation  of  the  Speakers  of 
the  popular  branches  of  the  two  countries  is  most  extraordi 
nary.  The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  receives 
eight  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  and  a  vote  of  thanks.  The 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  six  thousand  pounds 
(nearly  thirty  thousand  dollars),  and,  unless  his  term  is  a  short 
one,  a  peerage  and  a  pension. 

Nothing  in  English  statesmanship  has  impressed  me  more 
favorably  than  the  measures  that  have  been  taken  to  build  up 
and  sustain  the  merchant  marine,  not  only  for  its  direct  profits, 
but  as  a  reliable  means  of  sending  British  goods  into  all  parts 


458     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

of  the  world.  Great  as  has  been  the  increase  of  British  manu 
factures  within  the  last  thilkv  years,  the  increase  in  tonnage 
has  been  still  greater,  becaus^lBritish  ships  have  not  only  been 
required  for  British  trade,  but  for  the  trade  of  other  nations. 
To  stimulate  shipbuilding  the  Government  has  granted  sub 
sidies  to  steamships,  mainly  by  very  liberal  compensation  for 
carrying  the  mails,  by  which  British  steamship  lines  have 
been  able  very  largely  to  monopolize  the  business  of  the  seas. 
Within  the  period  named,  British  shipping  has  grown  from 
about  three  hundred  thousand  tons  to  more  than  six  millions. 
Kow,  while  to  increase  and  sustain  the  merchant  marine  has 
been  the  policy  of  the  British  Government,  and  is  rapidly 
becoming  the  policy  of  other  European  states,  the  United 
States  has  made  no  effort  to  restore  the  shipbuilding  interest, 
which  was  destroyed  by  unwise  legislation  and  the  civil  war. 
Members  of  Congress  who  support  a  tariff  to  protect  United 
States  manufactures  decline  to  give  such  encouragement  to 
shipbuilding  as  would  be  the  effect  of  a  remission  of  duties  on 
the  foreign  articles  needed  in  the  construction  of  ships,  and  a 
reasonable  compensation  for  transporting  the  mails.  Votes 
are  what  a  majority  of  the  members  of  Congress  are  looking 
for,  and  unfortunately  there  are  few  voters  among  the  build 
ers,  the  owners,  and  navigators  of  ships.  Is  it  unjust  to  say 
that  politics,  not  statesmanship,  is  in  the  ascendant  in  the 
United  States  at  the  present  time? 

I  find  it  difficult  to  see  in  what  important  matters  the 
rights  of  the  people  (with  the  exception  of  the  Irish)  are  not  as 
well  secured,  and  the  public  interest  as  carefully  looked  after, 
in  Great  Britain  as  in  the  United  States.  The  Irish  question 
is  so  well  understood  that  I  have  very  little  to  say  about  it. 
That  the  Irish  people  have  not  been  fairly  treated  is  evident, 
from  the  fact  that  the  population  of  Ireland  has  for  years  been 
steadily  decreasing.  Its  climate  is  healthful ;  its  soil  is  fertile ; 
it  has  all  natural  advantages  to  make  it  highly  productive; 
its  people  have  strong  local  attachments,  and  yet  the  exodus 


IRISH    HOME    RULE.  459 

from  it  is  constant,  and  if  not  now  as  large  as  heretofore,  it 
is  because  there  are  fewer  left  at  home.  The  cause  of  this 
ought  to  be  thoroughly  understood  by  the  Government  and 

O  O        v  v 

removed.  The  prices  of  agricultural  products  are  very  much 
lower  than  they  were  a  few  years  ago.  Rents,  therefore, 
should  be  correspondingly  reduced  or  paid  in  kind.  The  Irish 
renters  should  not  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  proprietors,  the 
most  of  whom  are  non-residents.  If  Home  Rule  is  not  to  be 
granted  to  the  Irish,  they  should  be  relieved  from  the  exac 
tions  and  oppressions  of  all  kinds  that  compel  them  to  leave 
their  native  land.  The  English  people  are  not  a  tender 
hearted  people  ;  pity  for  the  unfortunate  is  not  a  marked  trait 
of  their  character ;  but  their  sense  of  justice  is  keen  when  it 
is  not  blinded  by  self-interest.  That  sense  of  justice  is  now 
more  awake  than  it  has  ever  been,  and  it  will  not  be  long 
before  it  thoroughly  asserts  itself  in  behalf  of  Ireland. 

There  are  no  men  in  the  world  superior  in  mental  and 
physical  power  to  the  upper  classes  in  England.  Their  edu 
cational  advantages  are  of  the  highest  order.  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  stand  at  the  head  of  literary  institutions,  and  there 
are  many  others  scarcely  inferior  to  them.  There  are  very 
few  of  the  sons  of  parents  who  can  afford  the  expense  who  do 
not  receive  a  classical  education,  and  those  who  belong  to  the 
classes  referred  to  live  more  in  the  open  air,  ride  more,  hunt 
more,  do  more  to  develop  physical  strength,  than  the  sons  of 
corresponding  classes  in  the  United  States.  Such  is  the  climate 
that  they  can  healthfully  eat  more  and  drink  more  than  the 
people  of  any  other  country.  There  has  been,  however,  within 
the  present  generation,  a  great  change  in  their  manner  of 
living.  French  cooking  has  superseded,  in  a  large  degree,  the 
old  English  cooking.  Heavy  dinners  are  not  now  fashionable, 
nor  is  heavy  drinking.  The  judges  have  passed  away  who 
could  drink  two  bottles  of  port  at  a  protracted  dinner  and  be 
upon  the  bench  the  next  morning,  u  as  sober  as  a  judge  "  ought 
to  be.  It  is  not  often  that  respectable  men,  as  was  formerly 


460  MEN    AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

the  case,  finish  their  repast  upon  the  floor  of  the  dining-room. 
The  Scotch — I  am,  as  a  Scotchman  by  descent,  very  sorry  to 
say — have  not  improved  in  this  respect  as  have  their  southern 
neighbors.  The  heaviest  eating  and  drinking,  and  the  most 
protracted  dinners,  are  still  in  Scotland.  Lord  John  Lawrence 
— an  Irishman,  by  the  way,  who  distinguished  himself  at  the 
time  of  the  great  Indian  mutiny,  and  was  for  a  number  of 
years  Governor  General  of  India,  and  subsequently  a  peer — 
used  to  tell  the  story  of  a  friend  of  his,  who,  when  in  Scotland, 
called  upon  an  acquaintance  at  his  house  between  eleven  and 
twelve  o'clock  in  the  morning.  A  servant  met  him  at  the  door, 
and,  in  answer  to  his  inquiries  for  the  proprietor,  was  informed 
that  he  was  at  his  dinner.  "At  his  dinner!  You  don't  mean 
that  he  is  dining  at  this  hour  of  the  day  ? ''  said  the  inquirer. 
"  Yes,  he  is,  sir,"  replied  the  servant,  "  but  it  is  his  yesterday's 
dinner." 

Although  heavy  drinking  is  no  longer  fashionable  in  Eng 
land,  there  are  few  Englishmen  of  means  who  do  not  drink 
wine  at  dinner.  Pure  water  is  scarce  in  England,  and  very 
few  drink  it.  I  never  saw  anybody  drink  water  at  a  dinner 
table  in  London,  and  at  this  I  did  not  wonder  when  I  learned 
from  what  sources  it  came.  1  lived  at  the  West  End,  which 
was  supplied  with  water  from  the  Thames,  whose  continuous 
flow  is  through  cities  and  towns  and  highly  fertilized  land. 
Such  water  I  could  not  relish,  and  before  many  weeks  I  drank 
wine  like  an  Englishman,  but  not,  perhaps,  quite  so  freely.  The 
light  French  wines  have,  however,  taken  the  place  of  port  and 
other  heavy  wines  that  were  formerly  almost  exclusively  used, 
and  the  upper  English  classes  may  now  be  pronounced  a  tem 
perate  people.  I  dined  sometimes  with  noblemen,  but  more 
frequently  with  bankers,  lawyers,  merchants,  and  literary  men, 
and  I  never  saw  at  the  table,  or  after  dinner,  a  man  who  was 
even  excited  by  drink.  The  middle  classes  are  also  temperate, 
but  not  so  is  it  with  the  laboring  classes — by  which  I  mean 
those  who  live  by  manual  labor,  very  few  of  whom  are  like 


TAXES   HERE   AND   IN   ENGLAND.  461 

the  watchman  of  whom  I  have  spoken.  With  rare  exceptions, 
they  spend  a  good  part  of  their  earnings  at  the  gin  shops,  with 
which  all  the  English  cities,  and  especially  London,  abound. 
Mr.  William  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York,  was  shocked  by  the 
number  of  gin  shops  which  he  saw,  and  the  people  who  fre 
quented  them.  He  saw,  doubtless — what  I  think  is  never  seen, 
in  New  York — decent  looking  and  decently  dressed  women 
standing  at  the  counters  drinking  rum  or  beer.  In  my  walk 
one  evening  I  overtook  three  or  four  women,  followed  by  as 
many  young  girls,  and  as  I  was  about  passing  them,  they 
stepped  into  one  of  the  gilded  gin  shops  on  the  street.  This 
surprised  me,  as  they  were  good-looking  persons,  and,  after 
walking  on  for  a  minute  or  two,  I  could  not  help  retracing  my 
steps  to  see  what  they  were  doing.  There  they  were — three 
women  drinking — I  could  not  tell  what,  probably  beer  or  whis 
key — at  the  counter,  and  the  girls  looking  on  !  Gin  shops  are 
the  curse  of  London  ;  the  cause  of  three-quarters  of  the  degra 
dation,  the  poverty,  the  crimes  that  are  so  abounding. 

A  good  deal  is  said  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  about  the 
overtaxed — the  tax-ridden  people  of  Europe  ;  but  there  are 
few  countries,  if  any,  in  which  taxes  are  higher  than  in  the 
United  States — State  taxes  and  national  combined.  There 
are  fewer  still  in  which  such  taxes  could  be  borne.  In  some 
of  the  States,  the  direct  taxes  paid  to  collectors  upon  prop 
erty,  real  and  personal,  amount  to  nearly  two  per  cent,  on 
what  is  regarded  as  a  fair  valuation.  The  national  taxes  are 
indirect,  and,  although  heavy,  they  are  not  complained  of, 
and  do  not  seem  to  be  felt,  because  they  are  taxes  upon  con 
sumption,  and  are  paid  by  the  consumers  in  the  increased 
prices  of  the  taxed  articles  which  are  consumed.  They  are, 
however,  none  the  less  real  than  they  would  be  if  they 
were  paid  directly  to  the  collectors.  Taxes  upon  imports  are 
easily  and  cheaply  collected,  and  always  have  been,  and  prob 
ably  always  will  be,  the  most  popular  of  taxes  ;  but  they  are, 
nevertheless,  the  most  unequal,  and  consequently  the  most 


462     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

unjust  of  all,  because  the  very  rich  people  rarely  pay  more  than 
those  in  moderate  circumstances.  Here  is  a  man  with  an 
income  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  a  year,  and  another 
with  an  income  of  five  thousand,  and  yet  of  the  goods  subject 
to  import  duties  there  may  be  as  large  an  amount  used  in  the 
family  of  one  as  the  other.  We  know  in  the  United  States 
what  the  public  revenues  by  import  duties  amount  to  ;  but  how 
much  prices  are  raised  by  these  duties — to  what  extent  the 
burden  upon  the  people  is  thus  increased,  cannot  exactly  be 
determined.  We  do  know,  however,  that  import  duties  are 
taxes,  and  that  the  amount  collected  at  the  custom-houses  is 
far  less  than  what  is  paid  by  consumers  in  the  increased  prices 
of  the  articles  which  are  used.  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  the 
taxes  to  which  the  masses  of  Great  Britain  are  subjected  are 
not  only  lower,  but  are  more  wisely  placed  than  in  the  United 
States  ;  lands  are  heavily  taxed,  and  there  are  taxes  upon  wine 
and  liquors,  and  upon  incomes,  etc.,  etc.  ;  but  taxes  upon  trade, 
upon  commerce,  upon  manufactures,  upon  industry  and  enter 
prise,  are  judiciously  avoided.  I  did  not  look  carefully  into 
the  sources  of  the  income  of  the  Government,  but  as  far  as  my 
observation  extended  during  my  residence  in  London,  the  taxes 
were  not  burdensome.  The  impression,  I  know,  prevails  in  the 
United  States  that  the  British  people  are  subject  to  oppressive 
and  grievous  taxation.  If  this  were  true,  Great  Britain  would 
not  be  the  nation  she  is — a  nation  whose  ships  are  seen  upon 
every  sea  and  navigable  stream ;  whose  manufactured  goods 
are  found  in  every  market  under  the  sun.  If  her  people  were 
subject  to  oppressive  taxation,  they  would  not  be  the  leaders 
in  great  and  successful  enterprises ;  her  colonies  would  not 
"  encircle  the  globe ;  "  she  would  not  be  the  greatest  of  naval 
and  maritime  powers,  nor  the  richest  of  nations,  with  the  pos 
sible  exception  of  the  United  States.  Taxes  are  needfully  high 
in  Great  Britain  to  support  the  Government,  to  build  and 
sustain  the  navy  and  army,  and  to  pay  the  interest  on  her 
national  debt ;  but,  as  I  have  said,  they  are  so  wisely  placed  as 


THE   ENGLISH   LAND   QUESTION.  463 

not  to  be  oppressive ;  labor  and  business  do  not  feel  them  ;  no 
gainful  branch  of  industry  is  hurt  by  them.  What  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  need  more  than  anything  else  to  become  as 
free  as  the  people  can  expect  to  be  under  an  expensive  and 
heavily  indebted  Government,  is  what  I  shall  say  a  few  words 
about  farther  on — free  trade  in  land  as  well  as  in  commerce. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

The  English  People  and  the  People  of  the  United  States — Mutual  Learners — 
Tariffs  of  the  United  States — General  Jackson's  Proclamation — What  a 
Federalist  Thought  of  it — Need  of  a  Commission  like  the  Royal  Commis 
sion  to  Investigate  the  Subject  of  Taxation — Liquor  Drinking  in  England 
--English  Deficient  in  Invention — Defective  Patent  Laws — Excellent 
Effect  of  United  States  Patent  Laws — Local  Government  Needed  in  Great 
Britain— The  British  Debt — Mr.  Gladstone  and  Mr.  Bright. 

THE  English  people  have  learned  much  from  the  people 
of  the  United  States  ;  the  people  of  the  United  States 
have  learned  much  from  the  English.  Both  nations  have 
been  teachers  and  learners,  and  there  is  just  now  a  matter  of 
verv  great  importance  in  which  the  United  States  should 
take  a  lesson  from  the  mother  country.  No  question  for 
the  proper  comprehension  of  which  much  investigation  was 
required  has,  for  many  years  past,  been  considered  by  Parlia 
ment  before  it  had  been  submitted  for  an  examination  and  a 
report  to  a  royal  commission,  composed  of  men  of  the  high 
est  reputation  for  uprightness  and  intelligence,  who  have 
had  no  personal  interest  to  promote  or  to  protect  aside  from 
the  general  interests  of  the  nation  ;  and  seldom  has  it  been 
that  the  report  of  such  commission  has  failed  to  control  the 
action  of  Parliament.  The  subject  upon  which  the  two  great 
parties  in  the  United  States  are  most  evenly  divided,  and 
which  excites  the  deepest  interest,  is  the  tariff.  It  is  a  subject 
upon  which  great  differences  of  opinion  exist,  because  it  is 
one  in  which  important  interests  are  involved  ;  a  subject  in 
the  discussion  of  which  in  times  past  bad  blood  and  sectional 
feeling  have  been  excited.  It  was  the  tariff  question  that  at 
one  time  threatened  the  integrity  of  the  nation.  It  had  not  a 
little  to  do  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  late  civil  war.  There 


THE   TARIFF.  465 

might  have  been  severe  trouble  in  1832,  when  South  Carolina 
undertook  to  nullify  the  Tariff  Act,  if  a  man  like  Mr.  Buchanan 
had  been  President.  It  was  prevented  by  General  Jackson's 
proclamation  against  nullifiers,  and  the  passage  by  Congress 
of  the  Force  Bill  on  his  recommendation.  That  proclamation 
was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  powerful  papers  that  has 
ever  been  issued  from  the  Executive  Mansion.  I  was  at  the 
time  a  student  in  Boston,  in  the  office  of  Augustus  Peabody, 
an  old-school  Federalist.  When  Mr.  Peabody  came  into  the 
office  on  the  morning  of  its  publication  in  Boston,  he  glanced 
at  the  newspaper  containing  it,  and  then  handed  it  to  me  to 
read  the  proclamation  aloud,  which  I  did,  while  he,  under 
great  excitement,  paced  the  floor.  As  I  wrent  on  he  could  not 
restrain  the  expression  of  his  delight,  and  when  I  had  finished 
reading,  he  exclaimed  with  much  feeling:  "  Mr.  McCulloch,  I 
never  expected  to  hear  true  Federal  sentiment  from,  a  Demo 
cratic  President.  Democracy  will  do  well  enough  when 
everything  is  quiet,  but  when  the  country  is  in  danger,  noth 
ing  short  of  Federalism  will  save  it."  This  celebrated  proc 
lamation  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Edward  Liv 
ingston,  who  was  then  Secretarv  of  State,  and  who  was 

O  •/ 

regarded  as  one  of  the  most  eloquent  writers  and  powerful 
advocates  of  the  time. 

The  tariff  question  is  as  old  as  the  Government,  and  yet  it 
has  never  been  for  any  considerable  time  satisfactorily  settled. 
It  has  been  always  more  or  less  mixed  up  with  politics,  and 
has  therefore  never  been  fairly  considered  by  Congress.  It  is 
a  question  which  can  only  be  properly  treated  as  a  purely 
economical  and  revenue  question,  in  the  consideration  of  which 
the  most  thorough  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the  various 
industries  of  the  country  is  required.  A  large  part  of  the 
public  revenue  must,  as  has  always  been  the  case,  be  derived 
from  import  duties.  How  to  regulate  these  duties  so  that 
they  may  yield  the  necessary  revenue  without  depriving  exist 
ing  manufactures  of  incidental  protection,  and  without  injus- 
30 


466  MEX  A^D   MEASURES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 


tice  to  consumers  and  to  the  great  agricultural  interest  which 
underlies  all  other  interests,  must  tax  severely  the  best  intel 
lects  of  the  country.  It  is  a  work  that  can  never  be  properly 
accomplished  by  a  committee  of  Congress,  because  if  the 
time  and  the  intelligence  for  a  proper  investigation  were  not 
wanting,  there  would  not  be  in  a  committee  that  freedom 
from  party  allegiance  which  is  necessary  for  honest  work. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  Tariff  Bill  has  ever  been 
passed  in  the  United  States  which  was  not  subject  to  party 
influences,  except  the  War  Tariff  Bill  of  1862,  and  that  no  Tariff 
Act  has  ever  been  free  from  ambiguity  nor  from  inconsistency, 
except,  perhaps,  that  of  184:6,  the  author  of  which  was  Robert 
J.  Walker,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  which  was  the 
only  bill  which  passed  through  Congress  as  it  was  presented, 
and  which  therefore  escaped  the  manipulations  which  have 
distorted  other  Tariff  Acts,  and  made  them  difficult  of  con 
struction  if  not  contradictory.  That  Tariff  Act  was  less  pro 
tective  and  more  in  conformity  to  a  revenue  standard  than 
the  tariff  of  1842,  and  under  it  the  manufacturing  industries 
of  the  United  States  steadily  increased  and  prospered.  It 
remained  in  force  until  1857,  when  the  duties  on  many  leading 
articles  were  materially  reduced  without  prejudice  to  home 
manufactures.  Nothing  more  was  done  with  the  tariff  until 
the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  when  a  bill  was  passed  which 
subjected  imports  of  every  description  to  very  high  duties. 
The  object  of  this  bill  was  revenue,  which,  in  the  then  condi 
tion  of  the  country,  was  of  vital  importance.  This  object 
it  accomplished.  It  yielded,  notwithstanding  its  protective 
character,  enormous  revenue,  and  at  the  same  time  stimulated 
manufacturing.  It  has  not  been  materially  changed,  notwith 
standing  the  changed  condition  of  the  industries  of  the  coun 
try,  and  it  is  now  injuriously  affecting  our  foreign  trade  and 
some  branches  of  domestic  industry,  and  is  yielding  much 
more  revenue  than  is  required  by  the  Government,  large 
amounts  of  money  being  constantly  idle  in  the  treasury  ;  so 


THE    PRINCIPLE   OF   PROTECTION.  467 

that  the  time  has  come  when  a  thorough  revision  of  it  is  a 
political  as  well  as  financial  necessity. 

It  is  true  that  the  necessary  reduction  of  the  revenue 
might  be  accomplished  by  removing  the  excise  taxes,  but  no 
party,  no  matter  how  strongly  it  may  favor  high  import 
duties  for  the  protection  they  give  to  home  manufactures, 
would  dare  to  put  upon  its  political  banner  free  whiskey, 
while  blankets  and  clothing  of  all  kinds,  and  scores  of  other 
articles  of  indispensable  necessity,  are  subject  to  heavy  taxa 
tion.  No  party  would  do  this,  in  the  present  and  prospective 
condition  of  the  treasury  and  country,  and  no  party  will  long 
be  able  to  resist  what  is  becoming  a  popular  demand — revis 
ion  of  the  tariff.  Now  how  shall  this  revision  be  effected  so 
that  the  revenues  may  be  reduced,  and  the  reasonable  require 
ment  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  be  complied  with, 
which  requirement  is,  not  free  trade,  but  a  return  to  the 
principles  upon  which  the  early  tariffs  were  based,  duties  for 
revenue,  with  incidental  protection.  No  one  contends  that 
Congress  has  the  constitutional  right  to  levy  taxes  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  the  manufactures  of  the  United  States 
against  foreign  competition.  All  of  our  tariffs  have  been 
nominally  made  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution,  which 
limits  the  power  of  Congress  to  raising  by  taxes  the  means 
required  to  support  the  Government,  including,  of  course,  the 
payment  of  its  debts ;  but  no  one  doubts  that  it  lies  within 
the  discretion  of  Congress  to  place  higher  import  duties  upon 
some  articles  than  upon  others ;  to  exercise  such  a  wise  dis 
crimination  as  will,  to  a  reasonable  extent,  sustain  and  benefit 
home  industry.  As  long  as  the  people  are  resolved  that  the 
Government  shall  be  mainly  supported  by  duties  upon  imports 
—by  indirect,  instead  of  direct  taxes — there  must  be  a  tariff 
which  cannot  be  otherwise  than  protective.  To  prepare  a 
bill  which  will  produce  the  necessary  revenue,  and  give  to 
manufactures  the  benefit  of  a  discrimination  in  their  favor  not 
inconsistent  with  its  main  object,  revenue,  will  require  as  I 


468     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

have  intimated,  more  time  than  members  of  Congress  can 
give  to  it ;  freedom  from  personal  interest  and  party  bias, 
which  cannot  be  found  in  that  body ;  and  an  exact  and  com 
prehensive  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the  various  indus 
tries  of  the  country,  which  can  only  be  acquired  by  the  most 
careful  and  patient  investigation. 

A  Tariff  Bill  might  be  prepared  by  the  Executive,  with  the 
assistance  of  some  of  the  able  economists  of  the  day,  but  no 
matter  how  wisely  and  fairly  the  work  might  be  done,  it 
would  be  regarded  as  a  party  measure,  and  condemned  in 
advance  by  the  opponents  of  the  Administration.  No  party  is 
likely  again  to  have  a  reliable  majority  in  both  branches  of 
Congress,  and  if  it  should  have,  it  could  not  control  Congres 
sional  action  upon  a  subject  like  the  tariff.  Party  ties  are 
not  as  strong  as  they  formerly  were,  and  there  may  never  be 
again,  as  was  the  case  when  Mr.  Polk  was  President,  a  Con 
gress  which  will  be  in  harmony  with  the  Executive  upon  this 
great  economical  question.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  quite 
certain,  that  the  tariff  will  not  be  properly  revised  and  made 
what  it  ought  to  be — a  tariff  that  will  yield  the  necessary 
revenue  without  fostering  some  important  interests  at  the 
expense  of  other  equally  important,  if  not  greater  interests — 
that  the  great  subject  of  taxation,  in  which  Republicans  and 
Democrats  are  equally  interested,  not  as  politicians,  but  as 
citizens,  will  not  be  taken  out  of  the  political  arena,  and 
treated  as  a  business  matter,  without  the  agency  of  a  com 
mission,  composed  of  men  of  acknowledged  ability,  who  have 
no  personal  interest  to  serve — no  political  opinions  to  sustain 
— and  who  will  bring  to  the  work  large  experience,  accurate 
observation,  industry  and  zeal,  and  with  all,  the  determination 
to  serve,  not  a  party  nor  a  section,  but  the  country,  and  the 
whole  country.  Unless  the  work  is  done  by  such  a  commis 
sion,  there  never  will  be  a  tariff  that  will  not  be  the  subject 
of  unceasing  contention,  under  which  no  important  interest 
will  be  permanently  prosperous  or  secure.  "We  had,  it  is  true, 


THE   ENGLISH   LIQUOR   TRADE.  469 

a  few  years  ago,  a  commission  upon  the  tariff,  which  accom 
plished  little,  and  from  which  little  ought  to  have  been 
expected,  as  every  member  of  it  had  some  personal  interest  to 
look'  after  and  protect.  There  is  plenty  of  material  in  the 
countrv  to  constitute  the  right  kind  of  a  commission — one  that 

f  O 

shall  be  equal  in  every  respect  to  the  best  which  has  done 
valuable  work  in  Great  Britain. 

No  fair-minded  citizen  of  the  United  States  can  be  long  in 
England  without  seeing  many  things  to  excite  his  admiration  ; 
many  important  things  in  which  she  is  the  leader  among  the 
nations,  which  compel  him  to  feel — strong  as  may  be  his  attach 
ment  to  the  great  Republic — proud  of  the  mother  country. 
Tie  cannot,  however,  fail  to  observe  that  in  some  matters  she 
is  behind  the  United  States,  and  that,  in  some  respects,  she 
seems  to  be  so  wedded  to  the  past  as  to  be  unmindful  of  what 
is  now  required  by  her  people,  and  of  what  is  needed  to  place 
her  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  age. 

I  have  said  that  the  upper  and  middle  classes  of  Great 
Britain  are  temperate,  and  that  the  lower  or  laboring  classes 
are  the  reverse.  No  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  lat 
ter,  however,  can  be  expected  as  long  as  temperance  is  not 
considered  by  the  higher  classes  to  be  a  virtue  and  intemper 
ance  a  vice,  nor  as  long  as  the  use  of  malt  and  other  liquors  is 
encouraged,  as  it  seems  to  be  by  the  Government,  for  revenue 
purposes.  Whatever  may  be  the  condition  of  her  other 
branches  of  trade,  her  liquor  trade  is  always  flourishing.  No 
part  of  the  British  revenue  is  more  reliable  than  that  which  is 
derived  from  the  various  branches  of  the  liquor  traffic.  The 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  in  making  up  his  annual  budget, 
is  always  able  to  estimate,  with  the  utmost  precision,  the 
amount  of  revenue  to  be  derived  from  this  source,  and  he  would 
hesitate  to  recommend  such  high  licenses  as  would  shut  up  a 
large  part  of  the  drinking  shops  which  are  the  curse  of  all  the 
large  cities,  and  especially  of  London,  if  he  thought  that  the 
result  would  be  diminution  of  the  revenue.  As  long  as  the 


470     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

subject  is  regarded  in  this  light,  there  will  be  very  little  tem 
perance  reform  in  Great  Britain. 

The  British  people  are  far  behind  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  invention.  It  seemed  to  me,  when  I  was  in  England, 
that  all  the  labor-saving  machines  upon  the  farms  and  in  the 
shops  were  invented  in  the  United  States.  The  inventive 
faculty  was  stimulated  in  the  early  settlement  of  the  western 
part  of  the  United  States  lay  the  scarcity  of  hand  labor ;  but 
the  great  stimulus  to  invention  has  been  the  facilities  for 
obtaining  patents,  and  the  protection  which  our  patent  laws 
have  extended  to  inventors.  I  had  occasion  to  look  into  the 
patent  laws  of  Great  Britain,  and  my  conclusion  was  that,  if 
they  had  been  framed  to  prevent  rather  than  to  encourage 
invention,  the  object  could  hardly  have  been  better  accom 
plished.  There  were  no  thoroughly  educated  examiners — no 
tribunals  competent  to  decide,  and  whose  duty  it  was  to 
decide,  upon  the  merits  and  the  novelty  of  what  were 
claimed  to  be  inventions  or  discoveries.  Patents  were  issued 
to  all  applicants  who  could  pay  the  high  Government  charges, 
although  patents  might  have  already  been  issued  for  the  same 
invention,  or  for  one  in  which  the  same  principles  were  in 
volved. 

One  of  the  wisest  things  that  was  ever  done  by  Congress 
was  the  creation,  under  the  direct  grant  of  the  Constitution, 
of  a  bureau  in  one  of  the  departments  at  the  Capitol,  to  be 
under  the  charge  of  a  commissioner  and  examiners  of  high 
legal  and  scientific  knowledge,  from  which  patents  could  be 
obtained  which  would  secure  to  the  patentees  for  a  certain 
number  of  }7ears  the  full  benefit  of  their  inventions.  By  the 
examiners  of  this  bureau  all  applications  for  patents  are  care 
fully  investigated,  and  none  are  granted  unless  originality  of 
design  is  clearly  established.  The  questions  submitted  to  the 
examiners  are  frequently  difficult  and  complicated,  and  mis 
takes  may  be  made  by  them ;  but  a  patentee  has  a  reasonable 
assurance  that  his  patent  invades  no  other,  and  that  it  covers 


LACK    OF   LOCAL    GOVERNMENT.  471 

an  invention  or  discovery  the  right  to  the  use  of  which  is 
exclusively  his  own. 

There  are  many  intelligent  men  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic  who  doubt  the  wisdom  of  patent  laws,  but  no  one 
has  witnessed  the  operations  and  the  results  of  the  patent 
laws  of  the  United  States  without  discovering  that  not  only 
has  invention  been  greatly  stimulated  and  great  rewards 
secured  by  inventors,  but  that  the  whole  country  and  other 
nations  have  been  benefited  thereby.  The  patent  laws  of  the 
United  States  have  not  only  stimulated  inventive  talent,  and 
been  largely  instrumental  in  the  advance  which  the  world  has 
made  during  the  present  century  through  the  agency  of  labor- 
saving  machines,  but  they  have  been  of  immense  service  in 
international  intercourse  and  scientific  investigation.  Inventive 
talent  needs  something  more  substantial  than  honors  to  bring 
it  into  full  exercise,  and  this  is  found  in  the  profits  which  are 
secured  to  successful  inventors  by  our  wise  patent  laws  and 
their  faithful  administration. 

In  local  governments  Great  Britain  is  sadly  deficient.  There 
may  be  in  the  United  States  too  much  legislation — in  Great 
Britain  there  is  certainly  too  little.  Parliament  is  the  only 
law-making  power,  and  Parliament  has  no  time  to  give  to  the 
consideration  of  manv  matters  which,  although  local,  are  of 

\j  O 

great  interest  to  the  citizens.  What  is  needed  in  Great  Britain 
is  Home  Rule,  not  only  in  Ireland,  but  in  Scotland,  "Wales, 
and  even  in  England ;  by  which  is  meant  local  governments, 
with  law-making  powers,  subject  to  the  approval  of  Parliament, 
which  should  have  in  regard  to  all  local  matters  such  power  as 
is  possessed  by  the  States  in  the  American  Union.  The  age 
is  progressive,  and  Parliament  has  enough  to  do  to  look  after 
great  national  and  international  interests. 

What  surprised  me  a  good  deal  while  I  was  living  in 
England,  was  the  complacency  with  which  the  enormous  debt 
of  Great  Britain  was  regarded  by  the  generality  of  English 
men.  By  some  it  was  not  looked  upon  as  being  in  any 


472  MEN  AND   MEASURES    OF  HALF   A   CENTURY. 

degree,  a  public  burden.  In  the  estimation  of  others  there 
were  compensations  connected  with  it  which  more  than 
balanced  its  burdens.  Very  few,  like  Mr.  Gladstone,  seemed 
to  regard  it  as  an  encumbrance  upon  the  property  of  the 
nation,  from  which  it  ought  to  be  relieved,  even  at  the 
expense  of  increased  taxation.  Those  who  did  not  regard  it 
as  a  burden,  gave  as  a  reason  for  their  opinion  that  the  nation 
during  its  existence  had  largely  and  rapidly  increased  in  popu 
lation  and  wealth,  and  that  large  as  had  been  the  increase  of 
it  during  the  present  century,  the  national  income  had  more 
than  kept  pace  with  it.  Such  men,  it  seemed  to  me,  did  not 
trouble  themselves  to  consider  that  Great  Britain  might  pos 
sibly  have  reached  the  summit  of  her  prosperity  and  power, 
that  with  the  United  States  and -Belgium  as  great  competitors 
in  manufacturing,  and  with  other  nations  striving  to  share 
with  her  the  business  of  the  seas,  she  might  find  it  difficult  to 
maintain  her  present  position  as  the  leader  in  commerce  and 
manufactures ;  and  that  she  might  at.  any  time  be  involved 
in  war  which  would  make  further  loans  necessary.  There  are 
undoubtedly  some  compensations  in  a  national  debt.  Securi 
ties  bearing  interest  are  very  desirable  for  private  incomes, 
and  none  are  regarded  with  more  favor  by  investors  than 
those  of  the  Government  under  which  they  live.  Such  a 
debt  may  even  tend  to  strengthen  rather  than  to  weaken  a 
Government,  by  the  manner  in  which  it  binds  to  its  support, 
the  holders  of  its  security  ;  but  it  ought  to  be  remembered 
that  it  is  not  the  business  of  a  Government  to  supply  facilities 
to  investors,  and  that  if  it  be  well  administered  it  will  never 
stand  in  need  of  any  such  preserving  influence  as  may  be 
afforded  by  a  national  debt.  There  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  a  national  debt  is  a  national  burden,  for  which 
there  can  be  no  substantial  counterbalancing  compensations. 

During  the  last  thirty  years,  the  most  of  which  have  been 
prosperous  years  to  Great  Britain,  her  national  debt  has  been 
but  slightly  reduced.  It  may  now  be  regarded  as  a  perma- 


DIRECT   AND   INDIRECT   TAXES.  473 

merit  debt,  and  more  likely  to  be  increased  than  diminished. 
Peace  between  the  continental  nations  may  not  long  be  main 
tained,  and  in  future  contests  between  them,  Great  Britain 
may  not  be  able  to  remain  neutral  as  she  did  in  the  recent 
war  between  France  and  Germany.  If,  however,  she  should 
escape  all  foreign  complications,  her  debt  can  never  be  paid 
or  substantially  reduced  without  a  radical  change  in  her 
economical  policy.  The  revenue  which  she  receives  on  the. 
few  articles  which  are  subject  to  import  duties,  is  not  likely  to 
be  increased,  and  neither  Liberals  or  Conservatives  will  ever 
be  disposed  to  increase  direct  taxes  to  pay  or  to  lessen  the 
national  debt.  !No  large  national  debt  has  ever  been  practi 
cally  reduced — none  certainly  has  ever  been  paid — by  direct 
taxation,  and  I  think  it  may  be  said  w^ith  equal  certainty  that 
none  will  be.  This  much  must  be  said  in  praise  of  the  United 
States  Tariff  Act  of  1862,  that  by  the  high  duties  which  it 
imposed,  and  the  taxes  on  whiskey  and  tobacco,  etc.,  etc., 
more  than  one-half  of  the  United  States  debt  has  been  paid, 
and  that  the  reduction  is  still  rapidly  going  on.  This  might 
also  be  said,  that  if  no  other  means  than  direct  taxation  had 
been  resorted  to,  the  late  civil  war  would  not  have  been 
prosecuted  by  the  Government  to  a  successful  termination,  or 
that  the  debt  created  by  it  would  be  a  debt  like  that  of  Great 
Britain — a  debt  never  to  be  paid  or  even  lessened.  To  people 
who  are  afraid  of  direct  taxes,  indirect  taxes  seem  to  have  no 
terrors.  In  fact  those  that  are  paid  in  the  increased  cost  of 
what  is  used  are  not  by  many  regarded  as  taxes.  A  man  who 
pays  fifty  dollars  more  for  the  articles  consumed  in  his  familv 
than  he  would  pay  if  there  were  no  import  duties,  may  not 
feel  that  he  is  thereby  taxed ;  but  if  instead  thereof  he  were 
compelled  to  pay  half  that  amount  directly  to  the  collector, 
he  would  complain  of  taxation.  It  is  by  indirect  taxation, 
chiefly  import  duties,  that  the  debt  of  the  United  States  has 
been  paid  thus  far,  and  in  the  opinion  of  those  who  believe 
that  import  duties  are  needed  for  the  protection  of  home 


474  MEIST   AND   MEASUKES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

industry,  these  duties,  instead  of  having  been  burdensome, 
have  been  conducive  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  Some 
years  ago,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Philadelphia  was  ridiculed 
for  expressing  the  opinion  that  "  a  national  debt  was  a  national 
blessing,"  but  in  what  respect  did  he  differ  from  those  who 
regard  the  high  duties  by  which  the  debt  is  being  extinguished, 
as  being  promotive  of  the  best  interests  of  the  country. 

I  have  said  that  the  national  debt  of  Great  Britain  would 
not  be  paid  without  a  radical  change  in  her  economical  policy. 
There  is  no  probability  that  such  a  change  may  be  brought 
about.  The  statesmen  of  that  country  do  not  regard  indi 
rect  as  being  less  burdensome  than  direct  taxation,  and  they 
believe  that  import  duties,  by  lessening  her  exports,  would  be 
prejudicial  to  her  home  industries,  as  well  as  to  her  foreign 
commerce.  Believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  national  debt  is  the 
reverse  of  a  national  blessing,  I  have,  while  that  debt  was 
large,  and  might  be  dangerous  to  republicanism,  looked  with 
favor  upon  the  tariff  of  1862.  That  tariff,  however,  has 
accomplished  all  that  was  contemplated  by  it.  It  yielded  a 
large  revenue  when  that  was  absolutely  required  for  the  life 
of  the  nation ;  it  has,  with  the  excise  taxes,  reduced  the  public 
debt  to  such  an  extent  than  it  can  under  no  circumstances 
be  troublesome;  and  having  served  its  purpose,  it  should  be 
reduced  substantially  to  a  revenue  standard. 

To  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  believes  in  homes  for 
the  many,  and  free  homes  at  that,  with  very  light  taxes  on 
small  holdings,  nothing  in  Great  Britain  seems  so  needful  as  a 
distribution  of  her  landed  property — such  a  distribution  as  has 
taken  place  in  France.  This  could  in  a  very  large  degree  be 
accomplished  by  cutting  off  entails,  and  putting  an  end  to 
primogeniture.  If  land  were  held  in  Great  Britain,  as  it  is  in 
France  and  the  United  States,  by  absolutely  free  ownership, 
and  when  not  disposed  of  by  will  would  descend  in  equal  parts 
to  the  children  or  other  heirs,  the  distribution  would,  to  a  con 
siderable  extent,  speedily  take  place.  Ownership  of  land  in 


BRIGHT   AND^GlTIbSTONE.  475 


Great  Britain  carries  with  it  distinction,  because  it  is  so  diffi 
cult  to  obtain.  If  the  door  were  once  opened  to  free  descent, 
land  would  soon  be  classed  with  other  property,  and  be  valued 
by  what  it  would  produce.  Great  Britain  largely  depends 
for  bread  and  meat  upon  other  nations,  and  yet  there  are 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  of  land  in  that  country  of 
very  limited  acreage  which  are  used  only  for  deer  parks  and 
game  preserves,  not  for  profit,  but  for  the  pleasure  of  those 
who  control  them,  and  their  guests,  and  from  which  every 
body  else  is  excluded.  Large  estates  and  land  monopoly  are 
said  to  be  on  the  increase  in  Great  Britain,  and  they  will  con 
tinue  to  be  until  the  laws  regulating  entails  and  establishing 
primogeniture  are  repealed.  Both  are  feudal  and  unnatural  ; 
both  are  inconsistent  with  the  progressive  sentiment  of  the 
age,  and  with  the  best  interest  of  the  State.  The  British 
people  move  slowly  in  the  way  of  reforms,  but  they  do  move. 
Entail  and  primogeniture  will,  without  doubt,  at  no  remote 
day,  be  among  the  things  that  are  past.  The  succession  to 
the  throne  could  be  regulated  and  secured  without  primogeni 
ture,  and  the  existence  of  the  House  of  Lords  need  not  in  any 
measure  be  dependent  upon  it,  or  upon  entail.  I  heard  both 
spoken  of  by  conservative  men  as  being  relics  of  absolutism,  from 
which  the  country  ought  to  be  —and  at  no  remote  day  would  be 
—  relieved,  strong  as  the  attachment  to  them  then  seemed  to  be. 
The  two  Englishmen  in  whom  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  been  for  many  years  the  most  deeply  interested 
are  William  E.  Gladstone  and  John  Bright.  To  the  latter 
the  Union  people  of  the  North  became  strongly  attached  by 
the  kind  sentiments  which  he  expressed  for  the  Government 
during  the  civil  war,  so  different  were  they  from  the  expres 
sions  of  most  prominent  Englishmen.  To  the  former  the 
people  of  the  South  felt  that  they  were  indebted  for  his 
sympathy  for  them  in  their  efforts  to  establish  a  Southern 
Confederacy.  The  tables  are  now  turned.  Mr.  Gladstone 
is  a  favorite  with  the  North  as  well  as  with  the  South, 


476     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

and  Mr.  Bright  lias  no  hold  upon  either.  There  is  through 
out  the  United  States  a  prevailing  opinion  that  the  people 
of  Ireland  have  not  been  fairly  dealt  with,  and  that  their 
claim  for  Home  Rule  is  just  and  reasonable,  and  ought 
not  to  be  denied.  Mr.  Gladstone  is  their  English  champion, 
and  b}7  being  so  he  retains  the  hold  which  he  had  upon  the 
good  feeling  of  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  and  has 
established  himself  in  the  good  graces  of  the  Northern.  Mr. 
Bright,  on  the  contrary,  has  taken  a  stand  against  Home  Rule 
for  Ireland,  and  is  therefore  no  longer  in  sympathy  with  the 
people  of  the  Northern  States,  while  his  unpopularity  with  the 
people  of  the  South  remains  unabated.  Perhaps,  however, 
neither  can  be  charged  with  inconsistency.  Mr.  Gladstone  is 
in  favor  of  Home  Rule  for  the  Irish  because  he  thinks  they 
have  the  right  to  it,  and  would  be  benefited  thereby.  He 
thought  if  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  desired  to  estab 
lish  an  independent  government,  that  they  had  the  right  to 
do  so,  and  ought  not  to  be  prevented  by  force.  Mr.  Bright 
being  a  Quaker,  was,  in  principle  and  by  education,  a  hater  of 
slavery,  and  he  understood  better  than  Mr.  Gladstone  did, 
that  slavery  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  sectional  differences  in 
the  United  States.  He  was,  therefore,  opposed  to  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  government  of  which  slavery  was  to  be  the 
corner-stone,  and  he  thought  there  was  no  just  right  which 
the  Southern  States  might  not  secure  as  well  in  the  Union  as 
out  of  it.  He  is  opposed  to  Home  Rule  for  the  Irish,  not 
because  he  does  not  think  that  the  Irish  people  have  been 
badly  treated,  nor  because  there  are  no  wrongs  to  be  re 
dressed,  but  because  he  thinks  they  have  not  shown  them 
selves  to  be  capable  of  self-government — that  neither  the 
persons  nor  property  of  Protestants  would  be  properly  treated 
if  Home  Rule  should  be  established,  and  because  he  believes 
that  there  are  no  wrongs  of  which  the  Irish  people  can 
justly  complain  which  would  not  be  redressed  by  Parliament 
if  they  were  presented  in  the  right  spirit. 


THEIR  TEMPERAMENTAL    DIFFERENCES.  477 

Mr.  Bright  is  a  Liberal,  and  has  heretofore  been  the  per 
sonal  and  political  friend  of  Mr.  Gladstone.  lie  must,  there 
fore,  have  passed  through  a  severe  ordeal  in  the  separation 
which  has  taken  place  upon  a  question  which  seems  to  involve 
liberty  and  right.  The  two  men  are,  however,  naturally  dif 
ferent,  and  they  have  been  subjected  to  different  influences. 
Mr.  Bright  is  just  and  upright  from  principle,  but  he  is  not 
progressive  by  temperament,  and  the  influences  to  which  he 
has  been  subjected  have  not  tended  to  change  his  character  in 
this  respect.  lie  is  a  Quaker,  and  Quakers  are  not  apt  to  be 
political  reformers.  lie  does  not  think  that  even  right  should 
be  obtained  by  force,  and  he  has  no  sympathy  with  the  Irish 
ardor  which  leads  them  into  acts  of  violence.  He  is  thor 
oughly  lo}7al  to  the  throne,  which,  as  at  present  occupied, 
justifies  the  loyalty  of  all  Englishmen,  but  he  would  not  advise 
forcible  resistance  to  its  authority,  no  matter  how  oppressively 
that  authority  might  be  exercised.  He  is,  of  course,  opposed 
to  any  forcible  resistance  to  acts  of  Parliament,  unjust 
although  he  may  regard  them. 

Mr.  Gladstone  is  progressive  by  temperament  and  from 
principle.  He  broke  away  from  the  conservatism  for  which 
he  was  distinguished  in  his  early  career  to  become  a  leader  of 
the  Liberals,  an  earnest  advocate  of  all  measures  which 
have  since  been  adopted  by  Parliament  for  the  improvement 
of  the  condition  of  the  people.  He  is  an  ardent  believer  in 
progress,  and  he  is  never  at  rest.  No  sooner  has  one  advance 
step  been  secured  than  he  is  ready  for  another.  Finality  is 
not  in  his  creed.  If  the  Irish  question  should  be  settled  in  his 
day,  old  as  he  may  be,  he  will  be  ready  to  undertake  some 
other  measure  which  he  may  think  will  advance  the  public 
welfare.  He  will  not  need  to  buckle  on  his  armor,  for  he 
never  takes  it  off.  In  power  or  out  of  it,  he  is  a  most  ener 
getic  and  persistent  worker.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Estab 
lished  Church,  but  he  is  supposed  to  favor  disestablishment. 
He  is  known  to  be  tolerant.  He  believes  in  free  religion. 


478  MEN   AND   MEASUEES   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY. 

and  that  religious  truth  stands  in  no  need  of  Government 
support.  lie  believes  that  the  Government  should  exist  for 
the  benefit  of  the  many,  and  that  hereditary  rights  which  are 
inconsistent  with  the  public  welfare  should  not  be  considered 
as  being  beyond  Parliamentary  control.  He  does  not  think 
that  immense  tracts  of  land  should  be  used  for  no  other  pur 
pose  than  for  game,  nor  that  the  larger  part  of  the  lands  of  the 
kingdom  should  be  held  by  a  few  proprietors  and  cultivated 
by  tenants.  He  may  not  live  long  enough  to  be  instrumental 
in  bringing  about  changes  in  Church  government  or  land 
ownership,  but  he  has  put  influences  in  motion  that  may  be 
retarded,  but  will  not  be  suppressed,  by  his  death. 

Mr.  Bright  has  acted,  throughout  his  public  career,  in  con 
formity  with  his  principles  as  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  He  has  always  been  in  favor  of  peace — peace  at  any 
price.  He  criticised  the  Government  severely  for  joining  the 
French  in  defending  Turkey  against  the  armies  of  Kussia.  He 
opposed  the  war  with  China;  he  has  been  opposed  to  all 
foreign  conquests,  and  he  has  favored  the  reduction  of  the 
army  to  a  peace  establishment. 

Mr.  Bright  is  a  man  of  great  intellectual  power.  He  is  not 
a  classical  scholar,  but  no  man  in  England  has  ever  spoken  the 
English  language  with  more  clearness  and  force.  He  is  what 
very  few  Englishmen  of  the  present  day  are — an  eloquent 
speaker.  His  speeches  at  the  hustings  and  in  Parliament  are 
among  the  ablest  and  most  captivating  that  have  ever  been 
made  in  England.  This  is  somewhat  singular,  as  he  was  not 
trained  to  oratory  and  has  not  been  engaged  in  literary  pur 
suits.  He  has  been  a  manufacturer — the  head  of  a  large  cot 
ton-spinning  firm — and  would  seem  to  have  had  limited  oppor 
tunities  for  study.  He  has  always  been  an  advocate  of  free 
trade,  and  he  did  as  much  as  any  one,  except  Mr.  Cobden,  to 
effect  a  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  It  was  a  severe  and  some 
what  protracted  struggle  which  the  opponents  of  the  tax  upon 
breadstuffs  had  with  the  landed  aristocracy,  and  their  triumph 


GLADSTONE'S  SCHOLARSHIP.  479 

was  doubly  gratifying  by  the  fact  that  the  result,  contrary 
to  the  predictions  of  the  Conservatives,  was  an  increase  in 
the  value  of  agricultural  lands,  and  stimulation  of  trade  of  all 
descriptions. 

Mr.  Gladstone  is  in  many  respects  the  most  remarkable 
man  of  the  age.  His  career  has  been  brilliant  and  command 
ing  from  the  commencement.  His  father,  a  wealthy  merchant, 
gave  to  him  the  best  of  educational  advantages,  which  he 
improved  by  winning  at  Oxford  the  highest  honors.  At  the 
age  of  twenty -three  he  became  a  member  of  Parliament ;  at 
twenty-five  he  was  a  Junior  Lord  of  the  Treasury  ;  at  thirty- 
two  he  was  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council  and  Master  of  the 
Mint.  During  this  period  he  was  not  only  doing  a  very  large 
amount  of  official  work,  but  he  was  a  popular  writer  upon  a 
great  variety  of  subjects.  Up  to  his  fiftieth  year  he  was  a 
Conservative.  Since  then  he  has  been  a  leading  Liberal.  At 
the  age  of  forty-three  he  became  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exche 
quer,  in  which  office  he  displayed  financial  knowledge  and 
ability  which  placed  him  at  the  head  of  British  financiers, 
where  he  still  stands.  In  the  elucidation  of  financial  ques 
tions,  and  in  the  practical  management  of  financial  matters, 
he  has  never  been  surpassed.  A  good  part  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
life  has  been  spent  in  the  performance  of  high  official  duties, 
and  so  pressing  must  these  duties  have  been,  that  one  can 
not  understand  how  he  could  obtain  the  knowledge  he  has 
displayed  in  the  scores  of  books  and  pamphlets  which  he  has 
written  upon  a  greater  variety  of  subjects  than  have  ever 
engaged  the  attention  of  laborious  students  who  have  nothing 
to  do  but  to  study  and  to  write.  His  memory  is  perfect — his 
working  power  prodigious.  Amid  the  pressing  cares  of  offi 
cial  life  he  has  even  found  time  to  devote  to  the  relations 
between  the  State  and  Church,  to  careful  study  of  Homer  and 
the  Bible,  and  of  other  subjects  quite  different  in  character 
from  those  which  have  required  his  attention  in  the  discharge 
of  public  duties.  Strictly  scientific  subjects  he  has  avoided, 


480  MEN  AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

and  he  has  not  been,  perhaps,  as  deferential  as  he  ought 
to  have  been  to  the  scientific  men  of  England.  Whether 
it  is  for  this  reason,  or  because  he  believes  in  the  Mosaic 
account  of  the  creation,  that  he  has  incurred  the  ill  will  of 
many  scientists  who  have  spoken  of  him  in  bitter,  if  not  con 
temptuous  terms,  is  best  known  to  themselves.  His  reputation 
as  a  financier  has  never  been  assailed.  Of  his  scholarship  he 
has  given  ample  proof.  Many  men  have  studied  the  English 
language  more  thoroughly,  but  no  man  has  ever  equalled  him 
in  the  facility  of  using  it.  Diffuse  he  sometimes  is,  but  never 
ambiguous.  No  man  has  made  more  enemies  than  Mr.  Glad 
stone — none  is  more  hated  by  those  whom  he  opposes — but  no 
one  has  such  control  of  popular  opinion.  He  is  the  greatest 
political  leader  that  England  has  ever  produced.  He  is  not 
personally  magnetic ;  he  has  few  warm  friends ;  but  no  man 
has  ever  equalled  him  in  the  extent  or  duration  of  his  influence. 
For  half  a  century  he  has  been  the  most  prominent  and  influ 
ential  of  English  statesmen.  His  power  has  never  waned  ;  it 
is  to-day  as  great  as  it  ever  was. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Second  Appointment  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — Treasury  Officers  and 
Clerks — President  Arthur  more  Fortunate  than  any  of  his  Predecessors 
who  Succeeded  to  the  Presidency — Mr.  Tyler — Mr.  Fillmore — Mr.  John 
son — Mr.  Arthur's  Successful  Administration — His  Ability  and  Tact — 
His  Cabinet — William  E.  Chandler — Robert  Lincoln — President  Cleve 
land — Manner  in  which  he  has  Filled  a  Very  Difficult  Position — His 
Ability  and  Independence. 

I  HAD  no  desire  to  enter  again  into  public  life,  even  for  a 
short  period,  but  I  was  nevertheless  gratified  when  Presi 
dent  Arthur  came  out  to  my  house  in  the  country,  a  short 
distance  from  Washington,  one  afternoon  in  October,  1884,  to 
inform  me  that  Mr.  Gresham  had  resigned  the  office  of  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  become  a  Circuit  Judge  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  request  me  to  take  his  place  and  help  him  close 
up"  his  administration.  I  was  still  more  gratified  by  the  favor 
able  manner  in  which  my  appointment  was  spoken  of  by  the 
press,  as  it  seemed  like  an  indorsement  of  my  management  of 
the  Treasury  from  1865  to  1869.  I  was  glad  to  see  among  the 
faces  of  the  officers  and  clerks  who  called  at  my  office  on  the 
morning  that  I  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  my  duties  as  Sec 
retary,  a  number  of  familiar  faces,  although  nearly  fifteen  years 
had  passed  since  I  had  left  the  Department.  I  shall  always 
hold  in  kind  and  grateful  remembrance,  the  men  who  served 
with  me  while  I  was  Comptroller  of  the  Currency  and  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  in  a  very  interesting  and  trying  period  of 
our  financial  history.  An  immense  amount  of  work  was  done 
in  that  Department  during  the  civil  war  and  for  some  years 
after,  and  although  it  was  done  by  men  who  had  to  learn  as 
they  worked,  the  record  shows  that  it  was  fairly  well  done. 
31  - 


482     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

The  same  may  be  said  in  regard  to  the  other  Departments. 
Faithfully  served  as  the  Government  was  in  the  field,  it  was 
no  less  faithfully  served  by  the  officers  and  clerks  in  the  public 
offices  in  Washington.  There  were  among  them  men  hold 
ing  subordinate  positions  who  were  competent  to  fill  the 
highest;  men  whose  services  could  not  be  dispensed  with 
without  detriment  to  the  Government ;  such  men  as  would  in 
Great  Britain  be  retired  with  a  pension  when  they  were  no 
longer  able  to  perform  their  necessary  work,  instead  of  being 
turned  out,  as  many  have  been,  to  give  place  to  hungry  appli 
cants. 

The  highest  pleasure  that  I  had  during  the  short  period 
that  I  held  the  office  of  Secretary  for  the  second  time  was  in 
the  intimate  acquaintance  which  I  formed  with  President 
Arthur.  I  had  known  him  as  Collector  of  Customs  in  New 
York,  and  as  a  sagacious  politician,  but  I  was  not  prepared 
for  the  ability  and  tact  which  he  exhibited  when  he  became 
President  of  the  United  States.  That  high  office  is  a  very 
difficult  one  to  fill  by  men  who  have  been  elected  to  it ;  it  is 
much  more  difficult  for  one  to  fill  it  who  succeeds  to  it  by 
being  Yice-President.  Mr.  Tyler  became  President  by  the 
death  of  President  Harrison ;  Mr.  Fillmore  by  the  death  of 
President  Taylor;  Mr.  Johnson  by  the  death  of  President 
Lincoln,  and  Mr.  Arthur  by  the  death  of  President  Garfield ; 
and,  singularly  enough,  the  succession  in  each  case  commenced 
soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  Presidential  term,  so  that 
each  of  the  Yice-Presidents  who  became  President  by  virtue 
of  his  office,  was  at  the  head  of  the  Government  for  nearly 
four  years.  All  except  Johnson  were  Whigs  or  Republicans, 
and  each  except  Johnson  was  succeeded  by  a  Democrat — 
Tyler  by  Polk,  Fillmore  by  Pierce,  Johnson  by  Grant,  and 
Arthur  by  Cleveland.  Of  Mr.  Arthur  it  can  be  said,  as  it 
cannot  be  said  of  either  of  the  others,  that  he  maintained 
good  relations  with  his  party  throughout  his  entire  term. 
Those  between  President  Tyler  and  the  Whig  party  were 


PRESIDENT    ARTHUR.  483 

severed  before  the  expiration  of  the  first  year  of  his  adminis 
tration.  Throughout  the  rest  of  the  terra,  he  was  strongly 
opposed  by  the  party  by  which  he  was  elected.  Mr.  Fillmore 
was  true  to  his  party,  but  his  rigid  interpretation  and  execu 
tion  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  dissatisfied  and  alienated  a 
good  many  Republicans,  and  although  he  was  a  very  able 
and  upright  man,  who  had  done  good  service  to  his  party  and 
the  country  in  Congress,  and  excelled  as  an  executive  officer, 
his  Administration  could  hardly  be  called  a  successful  one. 
Mr.  Johnson,  although  well  known  as  a  Democrat,  was  highly 
esteemed  by  the  Republican  party  when  he  was  nominated  for 
Vice-President,  but  he  and  the  party  were  not  long  in 
accord. 

Mr.  Arthur  was  little  known  out  of  his  own  State  when  he 
was  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency.  The  nomination, 
which  was  entirely  unexpected  by  the  country,  was  made  to 
palliate  the  dissatisfaction  which  had  been  caused  among  the 
Republicans  of  New  York  by  the  nomination  of  General  Gar- 
field  for  the  Presidency,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  mis 
giving  among  the  prominent  men  of  the  party  when  he 
became  President.  lie  had  not,  however,  been  long  at  the 
head  of  the  Government  before  he  commanded  the  confidence 
of  his  party  and  the  respect  of  the  opposition.  His  adminis 
tration  wras  distinguished,  as  few  have  been,  for  fairness,  eleva 
tion  of  tone,  and  freedom  from  extreme  partisanship.  He  had 
held  no  prominent  office  but  that  of  collector  of  customs, 
which  he  resigned  on  account  of  a  disagreement  between  him 
self  and  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  upon 
some  question  about  appointments.  He  had  been  educated 
in  the  New  York  school  of  politics,  the  cardinal  doctrine  of 
which  was  "  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,"  and  he  conducted 
the  collector's  office  on  that  principle,  while  its  business  was 
performed  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  the  Government  and  to 
the  merchants.  All  of  his  predecessors  who  succeeded  to  the 
Presidency  as  he  did  were  well  known  to  the  country.  One 


484     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

had  been  a  Governor,  and  had  ranked  high  as  a  United  States 
Senator.  Another  had  filled  a  number  of  offices  with  credit, 
and  as  a  member  of  Congress  had  attained  great  distinction 
for  his  industry,  his  statesmanship,  and  his  unbending  integ 
rity.  The  last  had  been  for  many  years  a  senator,  and  had 
distinguished  himself,  although  a  Southern  man,  by  his  devo 
tion  to  the  Union.  It  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  two 
men  (to  say  nothing  of  Mr.  Johnson,  about  whose  qualifica 
tions  there  were  differences  of  opinion)  better  fitted  by  cult 
ure,  by  experience  and  knowledge  of  public  men,  and  of  the 
political  and  economical  condition  of  the  country,  than  John 
Tyler  and  Millard  Fillmore,  and  yet  by  neither  was  there  as 
much  practical  ability  or  sagacity  displayed  as  by  Mr.  Arthur, 
who  had  none  of  their  advantages ;  whose  knowledge  of  the 
public  men  of  the  nation  was  very  limited,  and  who  had  never 
made  politics,  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  a  study.  It 
was  with  great  diffidence  that  he  entered  upon  the  discharge 
of  his  high  duties ;  but  his  self-distrust  begot  carefulness,  and 
he  was  content  to  administer  the  Government  as  he  found  it. 
Day  by  day  his  hold  upon  his  situation  became  firmer,  and  in 
a  few  weeks  he  was  master  of  it.  His  position  was  a  very 
trying  one,  not  only  for  the  reasons  that  have  been  named, 
but  by  the  fact  that  he  had  been  a  very  active  politician  in 
New  York,  and  had  used  men  for  political  purposes  who 
expected  to  be  rewarded  for  them  by  the  patronage  which 
was  at  his  disposal.  The  claims  of  all  such  men  were  disre 
garded.  .  They  became  very  pressing,  as  I  had  good  reason  for 
knowing,  towards  the  close  of  his  administration,  but  Mr. 
Arthur  paid  none  of  his  political  debts  in  New  York  at  the 
expense  of  the  Federal  Treasury  or  to  the  detriment  of  the  pub 
lic  service.  I  did  not  know  which  most  to  admire — his  firm 
ness  in  resisting  their  importunities,  or  his  tact  in  retaining 
their  good  will,  notwithstanding  his  refusal  to  comply  with 
their  urgent  requests. 

Mr.  Arthur,  during  his  administration,  attempted  no  feats 


PRESIDENT   CLEVELAND.  485 

of  diplomacy.  His  recommendations  to  Congress  had  been 
carefully  considered,  and  they  were-  presented  in  a  manner 
that  compelled  the  respect  of  Congress,  although  few  of  them 
were  favorably  acted  upon.  His  administration  throughout 
was  characterized  by  a  high  order  of  ability  and  by  devotion 
to  the  public  welfare.  If  any  one  of  our  Presidents  merited  a 
second  term,  he  did.  Had  he  been  nominated  he  would 
doubtless  have  been  elected,  as  the  opposition  to  him  would 
have  been  less  savage  than  it  was  against  Mr.  Elaine.  He 
might  have  lost  some  votes  that  were  given  to  Mr.  Elaine,  but 
he  would  have  secured  a  great  many  that  went  to  Mr.  Cleve 
land.  His  Cabinet  was  a  respectable  one.  I  had  not  met  any 
of  the  members  except  Mr.  Chandler  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  before 
I  became  an  associate,  but  I  formed  a  good  opinion  of  all  of 
them.  Mr.  Chandler  I  have  before  spoken  of.  Mr.  Lincoln 
in  no  wise  discredits  his  parentage,  and  he  will  not,  if  he 
should  be  called  to  the  high  place  which  his  illustrious  father 
filled  with  extraordinary  wisdom. 

It  is  only  just  to  say  of  President  Cleveland  that  in  the 
self-command,  the  independence,  and  the  executive  ability 
which  he  has  displayed  he  has  exceeded  the  expectation  of 
his  political  friends  and  disappointed  his  political  enemies. 
Until  he  was  nominated  for  Governor  of  New  York  in  1882, 
he  was  little  known  even  to  the  people  of  his  own  State ;  out 
side  of  it  he  was  scarcely  known  by  anybody.  His  acquaint 
ance  with  public  men  was  more  limited  than  Mr.  Arthur's ; 
his  educational  advantages  were  not  of  a  liberal  character, 
and  yet  it  must  be  admitted  by  his  opponents  that  he  has  filled 
the  office  with  dignity — that  he  has  performed  his  high  duties 
with  intelligence,  that  he  has  been  straightforward  in  his 
actions,  and  that  he  has  not  sought  popularit}r  by  swimming 
with  the  current.  Few  men  in  his  position  would  have 
vetoed  as  he  did,  Pension  bills  which  must  have  been  hastily 
passed,  or  passed,  for  party  purposes.  He  knew  that  he 
should  make  no  friends,  and  would  probably  make  many 


486     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

enemies,  by  his  vetoes  of  many  of  them,  but  upon  careful 
examination,  he  discovered  that  they  were  not  meritorious, 
and  he  therefore  withheld  from  them  his  signature.  He  may 
desire,  and  doubtless  does  desire,  a  re-nomination  (Mr.  Hayes 
was  the  only  President  who  was  content  with  a  single  term), 
but  I  have  been  unable  to  see  any  indication  of  it  in  his  official 
acts  or  unofficial  conduct.  Whatever  else  may  be  said  against 
him,  he  can  never  be  charged  with  being  a  demagogue. 
By  Republicans  he  is  charged  with  not  being  governed 
by  the  Civil  Service  Act ;  with  making  removals  and  appoint 
ments  contrary  to  its  letter  and  spirit.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  is  severely  criticised  by  many  Democrats  for  not  making 
a  general  sweep.  He  has  undoubtedly  made  mistakes  in  the 
exercise  of  his  appointing  and  removing  power,  but  the  won 
der  should  be  (all  things  considered)  that  he  has  not  made 
more.  To  disregard  entirely  the  claims  of  party  in  the  distri 
bution  of  patronage,  demands  an  independence  of  party  fealty, 
and  a  disregard  of  party  obligations,  which  no  President  has 
ever  felt,  or  ought  to  feel.  How  far  to  go  in  yielding  to  the 
claims  of  his  party,  without  disregarding  the  higher  claims 
of  the  nation,  is  an  exceedingly  difficult  question  for  a  Presi 
dent  to  decide,  and  if  Mr.  Cleveland,  under  the  pressure  to 
which  he  has  been  subjected,  has  yielded  more  to  his  party 
than  should  have  been  yielded,  he  ought  not  to  be  regarded 
as  being  greatly  at  fault  by  the  advocates  of  civil  service 
reform.  That  Democrats,  educated  in  the  old  school  of  poli 
tics,  should  charge  him  with  lukewarmness  to  his  party  because 
he  has  not  removed  more  Republican  office-holders,  is  natural ; 
censure  on  this  ground  was  rather  to  be  coveted  than  avoided 
by  him. 

No  man  should  be  nominated  for  the  presidency  whose 
qualifications  are  not  unquestionable,  nor  one  who  has  not 
rendered  important  service  to  the  country  in  civil  or  military 
life.  It  certainly  could  not  be  said  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  when 
he  was  nominated,  that  his  qualifications  were  beyond  ques- 


HIS   GENERAL   SUCCESS.  487 

tion,  or  that  he  had  rendered  very  valuable  service  to  his 
country  ;  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  has  discharged  his 
manifold  duties  with  singular  independence  and  marked  abil 
ity.  The  Republic  has  received  no  detriment  by  the  elec 
tion  of  Grover  Cleveland  to  the  presidency. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

The  Changes  of  a  Half  Century — Effect  of  Machinery  upon  Labor — Contests 
between  Capital  and  Labor — Demoralization  Produced  by  War — Increase 
of  Violence — Decline  in  the  Standard  of  Honor — Newspapers  in  the 
United  States  a  Half  Century  Ago — The  "  Galaxy "  of  Boston — The 
"Evening  Post"  and  "Courier  and  Enquirer"  of  New  York — The  "In 
telligencer  ''  of  Washington — The  "  Gazette  "  of  Cincinnati — The  "  Jour 
nal"  of  Louisville — The  "Herald"  and  "Tribune"  of  New  York — J.  T. 
Buckingham — William  C.  Bryant — James  Watson  Webb — Joseph  Gales 
— Charles  Hammond — George  D.  Prentice — James  G.  Bennett — Horace 
Greeley — Personality  and  Impersonality  in  Journalism — Increase  of  Fed 
eral,  and  Decrease  of  State  Authority — Daniel  Webster's  Opinion  upon  the 
Legal-Tender  Question — Decision  of  the  Supreme  Court — Henry  ('lay  and 
the  Tariff. 

THE  greatest  change  which  has  been  made  in  the  condition, 
not  only  of  the  United  States,  but  of  the  world,  has  been 
by  the  invention  and  use  of  machinery.  Fifty  years  ago, 
work  of  all  kinds  was  done  by  hand ;  now  it  is  chiefly  done 
by  machinery.  There  is  scarcely  a  branch  of  industry  which 
is  not  now  mainly  carried  on  by  it.  Labor-saving  machines 
are  everywhere — in  sitting-rooms,  in  kitchens,  in  shops,  in 
factories,  in  ship-yards,  in  printing  offices,  and  upon  farms. 
The  chief  employment  of  hands  seems  now  to  be,  not  in  doing 
work,  but  in  directing  machines.  The  heaviest  and  coarsest 
work,  as  well  as  the  most  delicate,  is  done  by  this  agency ; 
ships  are  being  built  by  machinery  as  well  as  watches.  The 
result  of  all  this  has  been  rapid  increase  in  individual  and 
national  wealth ;  in  activity  and  enterprise ;  progress  in  all 
directions.  To  all  this  there  is  apparently  one  great  offset — 
machines,  in  diminishing  the  need  of  hands,  have  been  prejudi 
cial  to  labor.  They  have  cheapened  all  articles  for  use  or 
consumption,  but  they  have  lessened  the  present  value  of  men. 


THE   ECONOMIC    REVOLUTION.  489 

Handicraft  has  been  to  a  large  extent  destroyed  by  them  ;  large 
capitalists  have  been  enriched,  but  men  of  small  means  have 
not  infrequently  been  ruined  by  them.  Manufacturers  on  a 
small  scale  cannot  compete  with  those  who  manufacture  on  a 
large  one.  Even  the  farmer,  whose  acreage  is  not  large  enough 
to  justify  the  purchase  of  machinery  for  sowing  and  securing 
his  crops,  cannot  afford  to  sell  at  as  low  prices  as  his  neighbor 
who  does  almost  everything  by  it.  The  labor  of  the  world  is 
being  revolutionized.  The  whole  system  of  political  economy  is 
in  derangement.  Manufacturers  unite  to  prevent  overproduc 
tion,  and  keep  up  the  price  of  manufactured  goods  by  restricting 
production.  Laborers  combine  to  keep  up  the  price  of  wages. 
Contests  are  going  on  between  capital  and  labor  in  all  coun 
tries,  and  they  are  the  most  serious  where  there  is  the  greatest 
freedom.  Hitherto,  capitalists  have  had  the  best  of  the  con 
test.  Whether  this  will  always  be  the  case  is  doubtful. 
Laborers  have  never  been  as  united  as  they  are  now.  If  all 
the  laboring  classes  should  be  harmonized  and  act  together  in 
the  United  States,  they  would  be  able  to  dictate  terms  to 
capitalists,  if  not  to  govern  the  nation.  The  outlook  is  not 
pleasant,  but  there  is  no  cause  for  discouragement  to  those  who 
believe  that  there  is  sufficient  power  in  republican  institutions 
for  the  settlement  of  all  questions,  political  and  economical, 
without  injustice  to  capitalists  on  the  one  hand,  or  to  laborers 
on  the  other.  The  ultimate  effect  of  labor-saving  machines 
must  be  to  place  labor  on  a  higher  level,  but  while  the  process 
of  accommodation  is  going  on,  there  will  be  disturbances  and 
contests.  The  trouble  for  the  time  being  is  serious,  but  not 
too  serious  to  be  overcome  by  wise  counsels  and  time. 

Other  changes  have  taken  place,  and  within  a  recent  period. 
War  is  always  demoralizing.  Our  late  civil  war,  although  its 
results  have  been  highly  beneficial  in  removing  all  causes  of 
sectional  discordance  and  establishing  the  united  Government, 
as  it  is  hoped,  for  centuries  to  come,  has  not  been  without 
untoward  influences.  There  is  less  regard  for  human  life  than 


490     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTFRY. 

there  was  thirty  years  ago — more  lawlessness  and  disorder. 
Acts  of  violence  are  more  frequent  in  the  United  States  than  in 
any  other  country  in  the  world.  There  are  more  men  who  carry 
deadly  weapons — more  men  with  pistols  in  their  pockets — in 
the  little  city  of  Washington,  than  in  the  great  city  of  London. 
They  are  not  carried  for  self-defence,  and  they  would  not  be 
needed  by  anybody  if  canying  them  was  prohibited,  as  it 
should  be,  by  law,  and  the  law  was  efficiently  executed.  Nor 
are  violations  of  the  law  so  certainly  punished  in  the  United 
States  as  in  other  countries.  "  Around  the  gift  of  freedom  " 
the  safeguards  of  law  are  not  as  severely  drawn  as  the  welfare 
of  society  imperatively  demands.  The  standard  of  honor  in 
business  is  not  as  high  as  it  was  in  my  younger  days.  Wealth 
is  more  honored  now  than  it  was  then,  and  the  means  by  which 
it  is  acquired  is  less  scrutinized.  Men  who  have  been  enriched 
by  gambling  (speculation  it  is  called)  seem  to  have  as  high 
social  standing  as  those  who  have  acquired  wealth  in  branches 
of  productive  industry.  Official  dishonesty — dishonesty  of  all 
descriptions — has  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the 
country.  These  evils,  however,  are  not  so  deeply  set  as  to 
be  beyond  correction.  They  will  be  corrected  before  they 
become  too  strong  to  be  uprooted,  if  the  Anglo-Saxon  spirit 
continues  to  be  socially  and  politically  in  the  ascendant. 

Newspapers,  in  number  and  contents,  have  much  more  than 
kept  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  country  in  population.  It 
might  be  safely  said  that  in  the  last  half  century  the  number 
published  in  the  United  States  has  been  increased  twenty-fold  ; 
the  reading  matter  forty-fold ;  while  the  cost  to  their  read 
ers  has  been  very  largely  reduced.  Nothing  has  been  more 
wonderful  (little  as  we  think  about  it)  in  this  wonderful  age, 
than  the  change  which  has  been  brought  about  in  the  record 
of  current  events,  by  steamships  and  railroads,  and  especially 
by  the  telegraph.  For  many  years  after  I  went  to  Fort 
Wayne,  in  1833 — the  news  which  was  there  received  from  the 
sea-board  was  from  ten  to  twelve  davs  old — that  \vhich  came 


JOURNALISM    FIFTY   YEARS    AGO.  491 

from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  fifty  or  sixty.  Now 
the  morning  papers  in  all  parts  of  the  country  record  the 
important  events  that  occurred  throughout  the  world  the  same 
day  or  the  day  before.  Indeed,  so  much  is  the  telegraph 
ahead  of  the  earth,  in  its  diurnal  revolution,  that  the  events  in 
the  Eastern  hemisphere  are  known  in  the  Western,  according 
to  Western  time,  many  hours  before  they  occur.  To  know 
what  important  things  have  happened  the  day  before  in  all 
parts  of  the  civilized  world,  one  has  only  to  take  up  a  daily 
newspaper;  and  if  he  wants  interesting  reading  enough  to 
keep  him  employed  a  good  part  of  his  time,  he  needs  only  to 
subscribe  for  one  of  our  large  dailies.  But  while  all  this  is 
true,  it  cannot  be  said  that  there  has  been  improvement  in  the 
character  of  journalism  in  the  United  States,  by  which  I  mean 
improvement  in  the  intellectual  ability  with  which  the  news 
papers  are  conducted.  The  newspapers  of  all  our  large  cities 
abound  in  evidences  of  enterprise  ;  they  are  full  of  interesting 
matter ;  they  have  wide-awake  and  able  editors  and  reporters ; 
but  none  can  be  said  to  be  conducted  with  superior  ability  to 
that  which  was  displayed  in  the  Galaxy  of  Boston,  the  Even 
ing  Post  and  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  of  New  York,  the 
National  Intelligencer  of  Washington,  the  Gazette  of  Cincin 
nati,  and  the  Journal  of  Louisville,  which  were  the  leading 
newspapers  in  1833  ;  or  in  the  Herald  and  Tribune  of  New 
York,  which  appeared  a  few  years  later.  The  newspapers  of 
the  day  are  not  more  ably  conducted,  perhaps  I  ought  to  say 
more  ably  edited,  than  were  those  I  have  named,  because 
abler  writers — men  of  more  varied  intelligence,  are  not  found 
in  any  country  than  were  Joseph  T.  Buckingham,  William  C. 
Bryant,  James  Watson  Webb,  Joseph  Gales,  Charles  Ham 
mond,  George  D.  Prentice,  James  G.  Bennett,  and  Horace 
Greeley.  They  have  all  passed  away,  but  they  gave  to  jour 
nalism  in  the  United  States  a  character  which  is  not  likely  to 
be  excelled.  All  of  them  were  men  not  only  of  large  acquire 
ments,  but  of  great  mental  vigor,  and  they  impressed  the  jour- 


492     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

nals  which  they  conducted  with  their  own  personalities.  They 
had  in  most  cases  able  assistants,  but  the  leading  articles  in  all 
these  journals  always  bore  the  distinguishing  ear-marks  of 
their  distinguished  editors. 

Every  reader  of  the  Boston  Galaxy  knew  that  the  keen, 
the  witty,  the  sarcastic  leaders  were  from  the  pen  of  Bucking 
ham.  The  perfect  English,  the  elevated  tone,  the  breadth  of 
thought,  the  extensive  knowledge  which  characterized  the 
columns  of  the  Evening  Post,  indicated  the  master-hand  of 
Bryant.  The  impress  of  Webb  was  manifest  in  the  vigor,  the 
independence,  the  boldness,  not  to  say  arrogance,  with  which 
the  Courier  and  Enquirer  was  for  a  long  time  conducted. 

Joseph  Gales,  although  his  brother-in-law,  Seaton,  was 
associated  with  him,  was  in  fact  The  National  Intelligencer. 
It  had  a  name  to  live  for  a  few  years  after  his  death,  but  a 
name  only.  Mr.  Gales  was  the  best  informed  man  in  the 
political  history  of  the  country,  and  one  of  the  best  political 
writers,  of  the  day.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Daniel 
Webster,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  consulting  him  upon  ques 
tions  of  great  public  interest.  All  such  questions  were  dis 
cussed  in  the  Intelligencer  with  as  much  ability  as  they  were 
in  Congress  by  its  ablest  members  ;  indeed,  some  of  the  most 
noteworthy  speeches  in  both  houses  were  regarded  as  having 
been  inspired,  if  not  actually  prepared,  by  Mr.  Gales. 

I  was  a  good  deal  surprised  to  see,  soon  after  I  went  to 
Indiana,  two  papers — one  published  in  Cincinnati  and  the 
other  in  Louisville — which  came  fully  up  to  the  highest  stand 
ards  of  those  in  the  Eastern  cities.  The  Cincinnati  Gazette, 
while  under  the  charge  of  Charles  Hammond,  was  conducted 
with  very  great  abilit\yand  extraordinary  fairness.  Mr.  Ham 
mond  was  an  ardent  and  conscientious  Whig,  but  he  never 
descended — he  was  incapable  of  descending — to  the  low  level  of 
a  political  partisan.  The  present  editors,  wise  and  experienced 
as  they  are,  would  do  well  to  turn  for  guidance  in  sharp  polit 
ical  contests  to  the  files  of  the  Gazette  between  1833  and  1840. 


HORACE   GREELEY.  493 

George  D.  Prentice  made  the  Louisville  Journal  the  most 

C3 

captivating  newspaper  of  the  times.  The  selections  from  his 
editorials  made  a  volume  which  contained  more  original  and 
witty  paragraphs  than  any  other  book  in  the  English  language. 
Mr.  Prentice  was  more  than  a  wit — he  was  a  man  of  extensive 
learning,  excellent  judgment — patriotic  to  the  core.  Thor 
oughly  imbued  with  the  lofty  spirit  of  Mr.  Clay,  whose  biog 
rapher  he  was ;  true  to  the  Government,  notwithstanding  the 
unfavorable  influence  to  which  he  was  exposed,  he  exerted 
potent  influence  in  preventing  the  secessionists  from  capturing 
the  State  at  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion. 

James  Gordon  Bennett  created  the  New  York  Herald.  It 
was  fashioned  and  molded  by  himself ;  it  breathed  his  spirit ; 
it  took  with  the  masses  because  it  harmonized  with  their  preju 
dices.  Mr.  Bennett  never  undertook  to  be  a  teacher  in  morals 
or  politics.  His  aim  was  to  make  the  Herald  a  paper  which 
should  present  to  its  readers  the  earliest  intelligence  of  what 
was  going  on  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  thus  to  obtain  for 
it  a  circulation  which  would  secure  the  largest  amount  of 
advertising.  In  this  he  was  entirely  successful.  It  has 
undoubtedly  been  the  most  profitable  newspaper  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  not,  while  its  founder  was  living,  nor  has  it 
been  since  his  death,  a  strictly  party  paper.  Never  the  stead 
fast  supporter  of  any  political  organization — never  the  earnest 
advocate  of  any  political  doctrine — it  has  always  been  ably 
conducted  and  full  of  interesting  intelligence.  It  has  been 
just  what  its  founder  intended  it  should  be — a  great  news 
paper.  It  is  understood  that  Mr.  Bennett,  the  present  pro 
prietor,  who  bears  his  father's  name,  does  not  often  appear  in 
its  columns. 

As  the  Herald  was  the  creation  of  James  Gordon  Bennett, 
so  was  the  New  York  Tribune  the  creation  of  Horace  Greeley. 
No  other  editor  ever  impressed  his  personality  upon  a  news 
paper  as  Mr.  Greeley  impressed  himself  upon  the  Tribune. 
Mr.  Greeley  was  the  Tribune — the  Tribune  was  Mr.  Greeley. 


494     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

There  was  no  impersonality  about  it  as  long  as  he  had  the 
control  of  it.  He  had  able  assistants,  but  the 'leading  articles 
were  mostly  from  his  pen,  and  when  they  were  not,  they  were 
instinct  with  his  spirit.  No  halting  policy,  no  half-way  meas 
ures,  were  ever  tolerated  by  Mr.  Greeley.  In  everything  he 
undertook  he  was  earnest,  and  whatever  may  have  been,  in 
many  instances,  his  lack  of  wisdom,  no  one  had  reason  to 
doubt  his  sincerity.  He  was  certainly  unwise  in  the  opinion 
which  he  expressed  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war, 
that  the  Government  was  not  worth  preserving  if  it  could 
only  be  preserved  by  force.  He  seemed  to  fail  to  perceive 
that  if,  as  he  advised,  the  "  erring  sisters  "  were  permitted  to 
"  go  in  peace  "  slavery,  which  he  abhorred,  would  not  only  be 
perpetuated  in  the  States  in  which  it  existed,  but  would  be 
introduced  into  Mexico ;  that  peaceable  secession  would  be 
followed  by  wars  between  the  separated  States,  which  would 
exceed  in  fierceness  those  which  have  so  frequently  deluged 
European  States  with  blood.  He  was  unwise,  after  the  war 
was  commenced,  in  advising  the  generals  in  regard  to  the  man 
ner  in  which  it  should  be  conducted,  and  in  his  "  On  to  Rich 
mond  ! "  cry.  He  was  unwise  in  failing  to  give  to  the  Admin 
istration  cordial  support  in  the  most  trying  period,  because,  in 
his  opinion,  President  Lincoln  hesitated  longer  than  he  should 
have  done  to  proclaim  freedom  to  the  slaves.  But  his  want 
of  wisdom  was  most  signally  manifested  in  accepting  a  nomi 
nation  for  the  presidency  by  Republicans  who  were  dissatis 
fied  with  the  administration  of  General  Grant,  approved  and 
indorsed  as  that  nomination  was  by  a  Democratic  Convention. 
All  of  these  mistakes  were,  however,  more  than  counterbal 
anced  by  his  wise  and  excellent  course  and  action  in  other 
matters.  He  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  temperance  and  of 
social  reforms  ;  an  unswerving  friend  of  the  laboring  classes ; 
an  enemy  of  oppression  in  whatever  form  it  appeared.  Zeal 
ous  in  whatever  he  undertook,  truthful  and  sincere,  he  made 
the  Tribune  a  paper  of  vast  and  healthy  influence.  The 


PERSONALITY   OF   THE   PRESS.  495 

respect  which  lie  commanded — the  hold  which  he  had  upon 
the  people,  high  and  low — were  manifested  at  his  funeral, 
which,  by  the  numbers  of  real  mourners  who  were  present,  and 
their  unmistakable  sorrow,  was  the  most  impressive  that  had 
ever  been  witnessed  in  New  York. 

American  journalism  has  never  been  of  a  higher  character 
than  when  the  leading  newspapers  were  under  the  control  of 
the  men  I  have  named.  Since  then  the  personality  of  con 
ductors  of  newspapers  has  to  a  large  extent  disappeared,  and 
this  has  lessened  both  their  attractiveness  and  their  influence. 
One  reads  with  more  pleasure  a  good  article  which  has  been 
written  by  one  whom  he  knows  personally,  or  by  reputation, 
than  he  reads  an  article  equally  good  from  the  pen  of  one  of 
whom  he  has  no  knowledge  ;  and  there  is  an  influence  in  per 
sonality  of  a  high  order  which  is  strong  and  healthy.  The 
impersonality  of  the  writers  gives  to  newspapers  greater 
liberty  than  they  would  have  if  the  writers  were  known, 
but  it  is  too  frequently  the  liberty  of  defamation.  It  opens 
wide  the  door  for  the  indulgence  of  bitter  personalities.  If 
the  writers  were  known,  political  newspapers  would  not 
teem  with  personal  abuse,  which  discredits  them  in  the  esti 
mation  of  all  fair-minded  men.  Although  the  prominent 
political  newspapers  of  the  United  States  are  conducted  with 
great  intellectual  ability,  and  as  newspapers  are  of  the  highest 
character,  they  are  not,  in  political  contests,  as  influential  as 
they  ought  to  be,  because  they  misrepresent  and  frequently 
grossly  misrepresent,  the  characters  of  candidates  for  office.  A 
stranger  who  should  read  our  political  newspapers  for  some 
weeks  before  a  Presidential  election,  would  conclude  that  the 
candidates  on  both  sides  were  utterly  destitute  of  the  qualities 
which  ought  to  be  required  as  indispensable  for  the  highest 
office  in  the  Government — men  of  a  very  low  order  of  honor 
and  ability.  Yery  few  people  read  political  newspapers  for 
truthful  descriptions  of  candidates  for  any  important  offices 
for  which  there  is  sharp  competition.  All  this,  I  am  sure, 


496     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

would  not  be  the  case  but  for  the  impersonality  with  which 
these  newspapers  are  conducted. 

Nor  is  impersonality  confined  to  political  newspapers.     It 
is  sometimes  resorted  to  by  writers  for  magazines  who  have 
malice  to  gratify  without  personal  responsibility,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  illustration  :  Ex-Senator  Thurman,  of  Ohio,  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  upright  men  that  this  country  has  pro 
duced,  upon  whose  reputation  for  honesty  and  truthfulness 
there  is  not  a  stain,  in  a  recent  speech,  thus  spoke  of  the  Pres 
ident  :  "  I  have  seen  a  good  many  Presidents  in  my  long  life. 
I  have  read  the  history  of  the  administrations  of  all,  and  I 
have  known  several  of  them  personally.     I  have  seen  and  I 
know,  and  I  think  I  know  him  full  well,  Grover  Cleveland, 
our  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  on  the  honor  of  a  man 
who  is  bound  to  tell  you  the  truth,  if  ever  a  man  was  bound  to 
tell  the  truth  to  his  fellow  men,  I  don't  believe  that  a  more 
honest,  braver,  truer  man  ever  filled  the  presidential  chair  of 
the  United  States.      He  is  more  than  that ;   he  is  a  man  of 
far  more  ability  than  people  who  don't  know  him  may  sup 
pose.      He  has  that  supreme  faculty,  the   best   of   faculties, 
which  we  designate  by  the  term  good  sense.     If  he  is  not  a 
level-headed,  common-sense,  honest  man,  then  I  am  no  judge 
of  men."     Mr.  Thurman  has  been  a  life-long  Democrat,  and 
may  therefore  be  supposed  to  regard  with  favor  the  President 
whose  administration  he  supports  ;  but  there  are  a  great  many 
Republicans  who,  like  myself,  have  never  voted  a  Democratic 
ticket,  who  would  not  be  disposed  to  qualify  very  much,  if  at 
all,  this  high  indorsement  of  Mr.  Cleveland.     And  yet,  under 
the  assumed  name  of  u  Arthur  Richmond,"  in  the  April,  1887, 
number  of  the  Nwth  American  Review,  the  writer  of  an 
article  bitterly  assailing  James  Russell  Lowell,  denounces  the 
President  as  a  man  "  who  had  never  uttered  a  word  for  his 
country,  nor  lifted  his   hand   in   her  defence   higher  than  a 
hangman's  rope — a  man  of  brutal  manners,  of  stolid  instincts, 
of  vulgar  associations,  a  stranger  to  polite  society,  a  man  who, 


THE  OLD  "NORTH  AMERICAN."  497 

in  the  language  of  another,  is  but  a  wooden  image  of  dull 
self-sufficiency  and  cold  stolidity;  as  incapable  of  receiving 
impressions  as  of  returning  warmth."  This  is  the  description, 
by  an  anonymous  writer,  of  the  man  whom  Mr.  Thurman 
indorses  so  highly — the  man  who  was  elected  Governor  of 
the  Empire  State  by  an  unprecedented  majority,  and  who  per 
formed  his  duties  with  so  much  independence  and  ability  that 
a  great  party  turned  to  him  as  the  man  who  would  lead  it  to 
victory  in  the  presidential  contest. 

Would  such  an  article  as  that  from  which  these  passages 
have  been  extracted  have  appeared  in  the  North  American  if 
the  editor  and  proprietor  had  required  the  real  name  of  the 
writer  to  be  attached  to  it  ?  I  trow  not.  Most  of  the  writers 
for  that  magazine  write  over  their  own  names.  Why  was  not 
the  true  name  put  to  that  diatribe  against  the  President,  whom 
a  large  majority  of  true  Americans  hold  in  high  esteem  ?  Was 
it  not  because  of  its  vindictive  personality  and  shameful 
untruthfulness. 

This  reference  to  the  North  American  leads  me  to  a  few 
words  about  its  early  life.  If  I  rightly  recollect,  it  is  the  only 
survivor  of  the  United  States  magazines  which  existed  in  my 
boyhood.  When  I  left  New  England,  in  1833,  its  editor  and 
proprietor  was  Alexander  II.  Everett.  For  five  years  before 
he  took  charge  of  it,  it  had  been  edited  by  his  younger 
brother  Edward,  who  was  a  liberal  contributor  to  it  for  many 
years,  after.  For  ten  years  every  number  contained  one  or 
more  articles  from  one  or  the  other,  sometimes  from  both,  of 
these  distinguished  men.  From  this  fact,  those  who  did  not 
see  the  magazine  at  that  time,  can  judge  of  its  character. 
Alexander  and  Edward  Everett !  Extraordinary  men  were 
they  both.  Precocious  in  early  life,  it  may  truthfully  be  said 
of  them  that  they  never  ceased  to  be  precocious.  Alexander 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  with  the  highest  honors  at  the 
age  of  fourteen ;  at  seventeen  he  was  attached  to  the  legation 
to  Russia  ;  before  he  was  thirty  he  wrote  a  work  of  so  great 
32 


498  MEN  AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

value,  that  it  was  translated  into  the  German,  French,  and 
Spanish  languages;  and  at  thirty-three  he  was  Minister  to 
Spain.  When,  therefore,  he  took  control  of  the  North 
American,  he  had  established  a  very  high  reputation  as  a 
scholar  and  writer.  His  brother  Edward,  no  less  distinguished 
for  his  scholarship,  was  his  superior  as  a  speaker.  I  have 
heard  the  opinion  expressed  by  competent  judges,  that  Edward 
Everett,  as  an  accomplished  orator,  has  never  been  surpassed. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  the  pastor  of  the  Brattle  Street 
Church  of  Boston,  which  numbered  in  its  congregation  many 
of  the  most  highly  cultured  men  of  Boston.  His  subsequent 
career  was  in  the  highest  degree  honorable.  Under  the 
editorship  of  the  Everetts,  the  North  American  obtained 
great  celebrity  ;  it  was  known  and  recognized  abroad,  as  well 
as  at  home,  as  a  magazine  of  the  highest  character.  It  is 
consequently  not  discreditable  to  the  Review,  at  the  present 
time,  that  it  does  not  come  up  to  the  high  standard  to  which 
they  raised  it  more  than  a  half  century  ago.  Its  only  dis 
credit  is  the  fact,  that  it  is  permitted  to  be  the  impersonal 
vehicle  of  personal  malice  or  ill  will,  of  vindictive  attacks 
upon  such  a  man  as  Grover  Cleveland,  who  fills  with  credit 
the  highest  place  in  the  Government,  and  such  a  man  as 
James  Russell  Lowell,  who  honors  his  country  by  his  high 
character  and  superior  scholarship  and  talents,  who  stands 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  honorably  distinguished  men  of 
the  world. 

That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  stronger  and 
more  imperial  in  its  character  than  it  was  half  a  centmy  ago, 
is  manifest  to  all  who  are  familiar  with  its  history.  Within 
this  period  the  Federal  authority  has  been  greatly  augmented, 
and  the  authority  of  the  States  has  been  diminished.  The 
States'  rights  doctrines  as  they  were  advocated  and  believed 
in  the  slaveholding  States,  and  by  many  Democrats  of  the 
Jeffersonian  school  in  the  free  States,  received  a  death  blow 
by  the  civil  war  and  its  results  ;  while  by  liberal  construction 


INCREASED   FEDERAL   AUTHORITY.  499 

of  the  Constitution  by  the  courts,  and  the  general  course  of 
legislation,  the  tendency  towards  federal  centralization  has 
been  increased.  I  will  mention  two  instances  which  illlustrate 
this  tendency. 

Daniel  Webster,  who  was  styled  the  "  expounder  of  the 
Constitution,"  who  was  admitted  on  all  hands  to  be  the  ablest 
of  constitutional  lawyers,  uttered  the  following  language  in 
1836: 

"  Most  unquestionably  there  is  no  legal  tender  in  this 
country,  under  the  authority  of  this  Government  or  any  other, 
but  gold  and  silver,  either  the  coinage  of  our  own  mints  or 
foreign  coins,  at  rates  regulated  by  Congress.  This  is  a  con 
stitutional  principle,  perfectly  plain,  and  of  the  highest  impor 
tance.  The  States  are  expressly  prohibited  from  making  any 
thing  but  gold  and  silver  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  debts, 
and  although  no  such  express  prohibition  is  applied  to  Con 
gress,  yet,  as  Congress  has  no  power  granted  to  it  in  this 
respect  but  to  coin  money  and  to  regulate  the  value  of  foreign 
coins,  it  clearly  has  no  power  to  substitute  paper  or  anything 
else  for  coin  as  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts  and  in  discharge 
of  contracts.  Congress  has  exercised  this  power  fully  in  both 
its  branches.  It  has  coined  money  and  still  coins  it ;  it  has 
regulated  the  value  of  foreign  coins,  and  still  regulates  their 
value.  The  legal  tender,  therefore,  the  constitutional  standard 
of  value,  is  established,  and  cannot  be  overthrown.  To  over 
throw  it  would  shake  the  whole  system." 

This  was  said  in  the  Senate  chamber,  in  the  presence  of 
the  most  distinguished  statesmen  of  the  country,  and  there 
was  no  dissenting  voice.  There  was  probably  no  respectable 
lawyer  in  the  country  who  doubted  the  correctness  of  Mr. 
"Webster's  opinion ;  and  yet  the  Supreme  Court  has  decided 
that  Congress  has  authority  to  make  the  notes  of  the  Govern 
ment  (no  matter  what  their  convertible  value  may  be)  lawful 
money  and  a  legal  tender.  No  sovereign  in  the  world  ever 
claimed  authority  superior  to  that  which  Congress  possesses, 
according  to  this  decision.  It  is  a  decision  which  clothes  a 
Government  of  limited  powers  with  imperialism  in  a  matter  of 
the  highest  importance  to  the  public  welfare.  By  this  decis- 


500     MEN  AND  MEASUEES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

i 

ion,  and  the  substantially  prohibitory  tax  upon  circulating 
notes  other  than  those  issued  by  the  Government  and  the 
national  banks,  the  States  were  deprived  of  the  very  impor 
tant  and  valuable  privilege  of  creating  banks  of  issue,  which 
from  the  foundation  of  the  Government  they  had  exercised 
without  question. 

Henry  Clay,  who  was  the  recognized  father  of  what  was 
called  the  American  System,  and  whose  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution  was  of  the  most  liberal  character,  never  claimed 
for  Congress  the  authority  to  extend  the  manufacturers  any 
thing  more  than  incidental  protection  under  a  tariff  for  rev 
enue.  While  revenue  should  be  the  object,  he  thought  that 
Tariff  Bills  should,  and  ought  to  be,  so  framed  that  the  highest 
duties  would  be  upon  such  goods  as  were  manufactured  at 
home,  so  that  our  manufactures  might  be  indirectly  aided  by 
the  Government.  There  were  very  few  men  in  his  time  who 
contended  that  Congress  could,  without  disregarding  the  spirit 
and  the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  make  laws  to  sustain  home 
manufactures  without  regard  to  the  question  of  revenue — the 
object  of  which  laws  should  be  protection,  not  revenue. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Public  Questions  still  Pending— The  Decline  of  Shipping  and  its  Causes— The 
Tariff — Needed  to  Protect  Infant  Manufactures — Its  Increase  for  War 
Purposes — Its  Effect  upon  American  Shipping — The  Negro  Question — 
Relations  of  the  Two  Races  to  Each  Other — The  Elective  Franchise — 
Hostility  Between  the  Poor  and  Rich— Danger  of  our  Large  Cities 
— Conversation  Between  a  Citizen  of  New  York  and  a  Citizen  of  Georgia 
— Ownership  of  Land — Made  Valuable  by  Labor— Hardships  of  Early  Set 
tlers  in  Western  Timbered  Lands — Few  Farms  Worth  more  than  the  Cost 
of  Cultivation — Taxes  on  Lands  Should  be  Reduced— Acquisition  and 
Ownership  of  all  Property  to  be  Protected  by  the  Government — Wonder 
ful  Growth  of  the  Country — Immigration — Its  Value  and  Possible  Offsets 
— Differences  in  the  Character  of  the  Immigrants — Naturalization  Laws 
Dangerously  Liberal— Necessity  of  Restrictions  of  Voting  in  City  Elec 
tions — Monopolies — The  Outlook. 

MAJST  political  and  economic  questions  have  been  dis 
cussed  and  wisely  settled  in  the  United  States,  within 
the  last  half  century,  but  there  are  questions  still  pending  of 
the  greatest  importance  to  the  national  welfare.  The  restora 
tion  of  our  merchant  marine,  the  readjustment  of  the  war 
tariff  on  imports,  the  relations  between  labor  and  capital — 
complicated  as  they  are  by  practical  monopolies  on  one  side 
and  theoretic  socialism  on  the  other  —  negro  suffrage  and 
unrestricted  naturalization — these  are  matters  of  the  gravest 
interest. 

The  following  sentences  are  selected  from  some  rather 
extended  remarks,  which  I  made  in  my  report  as  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  to  Congress,  in  1866,  upon  the  subject  of  Amer 
ican  shipping. 

"  No  single  interest  in  the  United  States,  fostered  although 
it  may  be  by  legislation,  can  long  prosper  at  the  expense  of 
other  great  interests,  nor  can  any  important  interest  be  crushed 


502     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

by  unwise  or  unequal  laws  without  other  interests  being 
thereby  prejudiced.  The  people  of  the  United  States  are  natu 
rally  a  commercial  and  maritime  people,  fond  of  adventure,  bold, 
enterprising,  and  persistent.  Now  the  disagreeable  fact  must 
be  admitted  that,  with  unequal  facilities  for  obtaining  the 
materials,  and  with  acknowledged  skill  in  shipbuilding,  with 
thousands  of  miles  of  sea-coast,  indented  with  the  finest  har 
bors  in  the  world,  with  surplus  products  that  require  a  large 
and  increased  tonnage,  we  can  neither  profitably  build  ships, 
nor  successfully  compete  with  English  ships  in  the  transporta 
tion  of  our  own  productions.  It  is  a  well-established  general 
fact  that  the  people  who  build  ships  navigate  them,  and  that  a 
nation  which  ceases  to  build  ships,  ceases  of  consequence  to  be 
a  commercial  and  maritime  nation.  Unless,  therefore,  the 
cause  which  prevents  the  building  of  ships  in  the  United 
States  shall  cease,  the  foreign  carrying  trade  even  of  our  own 
productions,  must  be  yielded  to  other  nations.  To  this  humil 
iation  and  loss,  the  people  of  the  United  States  ought  not  to 
subjected.  If  other  branches  of  industry  are  to  prosper ;  if 
agriculture  is  to  be  profitable,  and  manufactures  are  to  be 
extended  ;  the  commerce  of  the  country  must  be  restored,  sus 
tained  and  increased.  The  United  States  will  not  be  a  first- 
class  power  among  the  nations,  nor  will  her  other  industrial 
interests  continue  long  to  prosper  as  they  ought,  if  our  com 
merce  is  permitted  to  languish/' 

The  decline  in  its  shipping  is  the  great  humiliation  of  the 
United  States.  Less  than  half  a  century  ago  they  were  second 
only  to  Great  Britain,  with  strong  indications  that  they  would 
soon  be  her  superior  as  a  maritime  power.  The  best  ships  in 
the  world  were  then  built  in  the  United  States,  chiefly  in  New 
England,  and  our  ship-yards  not  only  supplied  the  home 
demand,  which  was  very  large,  but  to  a  considerable  extent 
the  foreign  demand  also.  Now,  except  for  the  home  trade, 
the  building  of  ships  has  substantially  ceased.  It  makes  one 
who  saw  the  ship-yards  along  the  New  England  coast  a  half  a 
century  ago  sad  as  he  sees  them  now.  A  few  steamships  are 
being  built  there  and  in  the  other  Atlantic  States  for  coast 
wise  or  West  Indian  and  South  American  trade,  but  none  for 
the  European.  In  ship-building  and  ship-owning,  except  for 
domestic  trade,  the  United  States  are  behind  nations  that,  a 


THE   DECLINE    OF   AMERICAN   SHIPPING.  503 

few  years  ago,  were  not  known  for  either.  The  carrying 
trade  between  the  Old  World  and  the  new  is  in  the  hands  of 
Europeans.  It  is  their  ships  that  are  crowded  with  Americans 
who  are  constantly  visiting  the  Old  World  on  business  or  for 
pleasure  ;  their  ships  that  bring  emigrants  to  our  shores  ;  their 
ships  that  carry  our  cotton,  our  wheat,  our  beef  and  pork,  our 
tobacco  and  petroleum  and  what  not  to  foreign  markets.  We 
no  longer  share  in  the  glory  and  the  gain  which  attend  upon 
maritime  enterprise.  The  decline  of  American  shipping  com 
menced  with  the  substitution  of  iron  for  wooden  ships.  It 
was  hastened  by  our  refusal  to  permit  our  ship-owners  to  pro 
tect  their  ships  by  a  foreign  flag  during  the  late  war,  and  the 
finishing  blow  was  given  to  it  by  a  tariff,  which,  by  taxing  the 
materials  that  are  used  in  the  construction  of  ships,  made  them 
too  costly  to  invite  capital  in  that  direction,  and  forced  it  into 
manufactures.  That  the  United  States  have  been  enormously 
enriched  by  their  manufactures,  is  undeniable,  and  it  is  equally 
undeniable  that  their  rapid  growth  in  manufacturing  indus 
tries  is  very  largely  attributable  to  high  duties  upon  imports. 
But  why  have  our  tariff  laws  been  so  framed  as  to  prejudice 
and  destroy  one  great  interest  while  fostering  others  ?  Why 
have  our  people  looked  on  with  indifference,  why  have  our 
law  makers  been  inert,  while  our  ships  have  been  disappear 
ing  from  the  ocean  ?  The  answer  must  be  found  in  the 
lack  of  broad  and  comprehensive  statesmanship  in  Con 
gress  and  in  the  Executive  branches  of  the  Government. 
There  are,  I  am  happy  to  say,  indications  that  the  public 
mind  is  being  awakened  to  the  importance  of  having  some 
thing  done  for  the  restoration  of  American  shipping.  Over 
production  in  manufactures  for  the  home  demand,  and  the 
want  of  foreign  markets  for  the  surplus,  are  awakening 
public  attention  in  this  direction.  The  party  of  the  future 
will  be  that  party  which,  comprehending  the  interests  of 
the  whole  country,  fosters  all  alike,  or  relieves  the  people 
altogether  from  the  burdens  which  a  partial  policy  now 


504  MEN    AND   MEASURES    OF   HALF  A    CENTURY. 

imposes.  If  protection  is  to  be  the  continued  policy  of  the 
Government,  ship-building  should  be  encouraged,  and  mari 
time  interests  protected,  as  well  as  manufactures.  If  all 
restrictions  are  to  be  removed,  and  taxation  for  revenue  only 
is  to  be  the  policy,  the  shipping  interest,  relieved  from  the 
burdens  now  imposed  upon  it,  with  fair  compensation  to 
steamships  for  carrying  the  mails  will  take  care  of  itself.  It 
will  be  a  proud  day  for  the  United  States  when  American 
ships  share  with  those  of  other  nations  in  the  business  of  the 
seas,  and  the  American  flag  is  seen  again  in  ports  from  which 
it  has  been  long  banished.  It  is  urged,  I  know,  that  the  build 
ing  of  ships  could  not  be  a  profitable  industry  in  the  United 
States,  even  if  the  duty  on  all  articles  which  are  used  in  their 
construction  and  outfit  were  taken  off,  by  reason  of  the 
cheaper  labor  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  If  this  were 
a  fact,  which  I  do  not  believe,  what  justification  can  there  be 
for  keeping  upon  the  statute  book  the  law  that  prohibits  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  from  buying  foreign-built  ships  and 
putting  them  under  our  own  flag  ?  If  we  cannot  build  ships, 
why  should  our  citizens  be  prohibited  from  purchasing  them? 
In  no  country  in  the  world,  except  this  great,  free  country  of 
ours,  does  such  a  barbarous  prohibition  exist.  If  we  need 
ships  and  cannot  build  them,  why  should  the  right  to  buy  be 
denied? 

The  causes  of  the  decline  in  ship-building  were,  higher 
prices  of  labor  and  materials  in  the  United  States  than  in 
Europe,  and  the  tariff.  One  of  these  causes  has  been  much 
modified.  Skilled  labor  has  become  abundant  in  the  United 
States  within  the  last  twenty  years,  and  greater  progress 
has  been  made  in  labor-saving  machinery  on  this  side  than 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  If  all  the  materials  which 
are  needed  in  the  construction  of  ships  were  relieved  from 
import  duties,  the  other  cause  of  the  decline  of  our  ship 
ping  would  be  removed ;  but  so  much  ground  has  been  lost 
by  delay,  and  so  strong  has  become  the  European  monopoly 


PROTECTION    ONCE   NEEDFUL.  505 

of  ocean  traffic  that  something  more  is  required  to  build  up 
ship-building  in  the  United  States.  Not  only  should  ship 
building  materials  be  admitted  free  of  duty,  but  subsidies 
should  be  granted  to  steamships,  if  not  directly,  at  least 
in  the  transportation  of  the  mails.  We  should,  in  this 
respect,  do  what  other  nations  have  done  to  build  up  and 
sustain  their  maritime  interests ;  but  we  must  not  stop  here. 
All  efforts  to  induce  investments  of  capital  in  ships  will  be 
unavailing  unless  foreign  markets  are  to  be  secured  for  what 
we  have  to  sell.  Trade  is  essentially  barter,  and  there  can 
be  no  barter  as  long  as  trade  is  fettered  with  unequal  duties 
on  articles  to  be  exchanged.  What  is  needed,  then,  in  the 
United  States,  and  needed  more  than  anything  else  to  pro 
mote  general  prosperity,  is  such  a  modification  of  our  tariff 
as  will  facilitate  exchanges  with  other  countries.  The  protec 
tive  policy  must  be  abandoned.  A  revenue  tariff  we  must 
have.  Absolute  free  trade  will  be  among  the  things  hoped 
for,  but  not  to  be  gained  until  the  people  are  prepared  to  sup 
port  the  Government  by  excise  duties  or  by  direct  taxation, 
which  they  probably  never  will  be. 

That,  in  the  infancy  of  our  manufactures,  protective  laws 
were  needed,  and  that  the  country  has  been  in  times  past 
greatly  benefited  by  these  laws,  is  admitted  by  the  advocates 
of  tariff  reform.  Without  Government  protection  against 
the  competition  of  British  manufacturers,  capitalists  in  the 
United  States  would  not  have  engaged  in  manufacturing. 
Great  Britain,  early  in  the  present  century,  became  the 
workshop  of  the  nations.  From  1831  to  1870  she  controlled 
the  manufacturing  of  the  world.  She  had  more  capital 
than  any  other  nation,  and  her  people  were  more  skilful 
in  the  use  of  machinery  than  the  people  of  the  Continent. 
She  had  also — what  they  had  not — an  unlimited  supply  of  coal 
—the  great  factor  in  manufacturing  ;  and  if  not  the  inventor 
of  the  steam  engine,  she  was  the  first  to  utilize  it.  She  was 
also  the  leading  maritime  power  of  the  world,  and  conse- 


506  MEN   AND   MEASUEES   OF  HALF   A   CENTUKY. 

quently  possessed  the  facilities  for  sending  her  goods  to  all 
ports  that  were  open  to  her  ships.  To  make  the  most  of  these 
advantages  she  adopted  the  principles  of  free  trade.  By  it  the 
raw  materials  which  she  needed  were  admitted  free  from  tax 
ation  and  paid  for  in  the  productions  of  her  mills.  By  this 
means  she  had  obtained  a  manufacturing  ascendency  too  for 
midable  to  be  competed  with  by  capitalists  of  the  United 
States  without  government  aid.  It  was  to  free  the  United 
States  from  dependency  upon  Great  Britain  for  the  goods 
which  were  needed,  and  of  which  they  might  be  deprived 
in  case  of  war  between  the  two  nations,  that  our  first  pro 
tective  laws  were  enacted.  These  laws  were,  for  many  years, 
simply  re-venue  laws  with  incidental  protection.  They  were 
afterwards  so  changed  that  protection  became  the  object  and 
revenue  the  incident.  "  I  am  in  favor  ot  a  judicious  tariff," 
said  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  a  conversation  with  Henry  Clay 
and  others.  "  I  am  in  favor  of  a  judicious  tariff."  "  And  I," 
said  Mr.  Clay,  "  am  in  favor  of  a  tariff,  judicious  or  not." 
Congress  has  of  late  years  been  altogether  with  Mr.  Clay,  and 
adhered  to  protection  until  it  has  become  burdensome  upon 
the  people — depriving  producers,  to  a  considerable  extent,  of 
the  benefits  of  foreign  markets  for  our  surplus  of  agricultural 
productions,  for  which,  at  remunerative  prices,  there  is 
insufficient  foreign  demand,  and,  what  is  worse  than  all,  our 
protective  tariff  has  created  a  demand  for  laborers,  which 
has  brought  over  immense  numbers  of  foreigners,  for  whom 
already  there  is  insufficient  employment,  and  who  are  con 
sequently  restive  and  may  become  dangerous. 

Conceding  that  protective  tariffs  were  needed  to  induce 
investments  in  home  manufactures,  and  to  sustain  them  when 
they  were  too  feeble  to  compete  unaided  with  Great  Britain,  it 
is  clear  to  my  mind  that  our  tariff  laws  should  have  a  thorough 
revision  for  the  purpose  of  accommodating  them  to  the  changed 
condition  of  the  industrial  interests  of  the  country.  Pro 
tection  was  originally  and  properly  advocated  on  the  ground 


THE   WAR  TARIFF.  507 

that  without  it  manufacturing  could  make  no  headway  against 
the  crushing  power  of  British  capital,  and  on  this  ground 
only.  Thirty  years  ago,  few  if  any  of  the  advocates  of  pro 
tection  were  bold  enough  to  advocate  it  as  a  permanent 
policy.  It  was  to  be  temporary — not  perpetual.  When  the 
expenses  of  the  civil  war  began  to  require  immense  revenues, 
the  tariff  was  largely  increased,  and  a  patriotic  people  sub 
mitted  to  the  additional  burden  thus  laid  upon  them,  because 
they  had  resolved  that  the  Government  should  be  sustained. 
Not  only  was  the  tariff  increased,  but  an  excise  system  was 
adopted  under  which  almost  everything  that  could  be  reached 
by  the  tax  collectors  was  heavily  taxed.  Nothing  more  was 
heard  then  about  protection.  Revenue  was  what  was  needed, 
and  taxation  was  chiefl}'  submitted  to,  not  only  for  revenue, 
but  to  give  credit  to  the  immense  loans  that  the  Government 
was  obliged  to  resort  to ;  and  it  so  happened  that  these  taxes, 
heavy  as  they  were,  and  indiscriminately  as  they  were  levied, 
neither  diminished  production  nor  checked  importation.  On 
the  contrary,  both  were  increased.  So  great  was  the  Govern 
ment  demand  for  war  material  and  the  support  of  the 
army  and  the  navy,  that  existing  cotton,  woolen  and  iron 
mills  were  worked  to  their  full  capacity,  and  new  ones  were 
created  and  at  the  same  time  foreign  importations  were 
greatly  stimulated.  To  pay  for  needful  supplies,  immense 
sums  of  money  were  required,  and  this  requirement  was  met 
by  the  issue  of  Government  notes,  so  that  in  a  great  and 
destructive  war — the  greatest  and  most  destructive  war  that 
has  ever  been  carried  on — the  loyal  States  seemed  to  be  highly 
prosperous,  and  the  burden  of  taxation  was  not  felt. 

When  the  war  ended,  the  paper  circulation  of  the  country 
(money,  as  it  is  improperly  called),  instead  of  being  reduced 
as  it  should  have  been,  was  increased  through  the  agency  of 
the  national  banks,  and  artificial  prosperity  continued  until 
the  crisis  of  1873  put  a  temporary  end  to  it.  The  terrible 
depression  which  followed  this  crisis,  was  however,  of  short 


508  MEN   AND   MEASUEES   OF   HALF   A   CENTUEY. 

continuance.  The  spirit  of  the  people  was  too  elastic  and 
buoyant  and  energetic  to  be  long  depressed.  Millions  of 
debts  were  wiped  out  by  the  Bankrupt  Act.  The  Govern 
ment  notes  were  not  called  in,  and  bank  notes  practically  irre 
deemable  were  abundant — for  both  of  which  employment 
must  be  found  ;  and  this  employment  was  found  in  the  con 
struction  of  railroads,  many  of  which  were  built  not  for 
business  which  required  them,  but  for  the  business  they  were 
expected  to  create.  So  capital  went  into  railroads  in  amounts 
that  would  have  been  ruinous  had  not  short  crops  in  Europe 
and  abundant  crops  in  the  United  States  greatly  increased 
railroad  traffic  and  created  balances  in  our  favor  which  were 
settled  by  importations  of  gold. 

All  this  is  now  being  changed.  Manufacturing  of  all  kinds 
has  been  overdone.  Mills  have  been  built  where  they  can 
never  be  profitable,  no  matter  what  government  protection 
may  be  given  to  them.  Our  agricultural  productions  are 
declining  in  value.  The  tariff  is  gradually  shutting  up  foreign 
markets  against  our  manufactured  goods,  and  favorable  crops 
in  Europe  are  diminishing  the  demand  for  our  breadstufTs. 
Foreign  nations,  upon  whose  productions  heavy  duties  are 
imposed,  buy  of  us  only  what  they  greatly  need  and  cannot 
dispense  with  the  use  of,  and  these  articles  are  chiefly  limited 
to  cotton,  wheat,  corn,  tobacco,  petroleum,  beef  and  pork,  and 
our  markets  for  some  of  these  articles  are  in  danger.  India 
is  becoming  a  formidable  competitor  in  the  great  wheat  mar 
ket  of  Great  Britain,  and  petroleum  from  Russia  is  competing 
with  the  petroleum  from  the  United  States  in  the  markets  of 
which  in  this  article  we  have  had  for  years  the  absolute  con 
trol.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  European  nations,  except  Great 
Britain,  are  following  our  example,  and,  in  self-defence,  are 
adopting  a  protective  policy.  They  are  steadily  increasing 
their  import  duties  upon  articles  which  they  can  produce 
themselves,  and  are  endeavoring  to  be  as  independent  of  us  as 
we  may  be  of  them.  To  understand  how  damaging  their 


NOT   DUTIES   BUT   MARKETS   NOW   NEEDED.  509 

action  is  likely  to  be  to  the  farmers  and  manufacturers  of  the 
United  States,  it  is  only  necessary  to  call  to  mind  the  facts 
that  our  farm  products  are  selling  for  scarcely  enough  to  cover 
the  cost  of  production,  although  not  a  quarter  of  our  agri 
cultural  lands  are  under  cultivation  ;  and  that  our  iron  and 
steel,  our  cotton  and  woolen  factories,  if  working  on  only  half 
time,  could  supply,  and  more  than  supply,  the  home  demand. 
What  the  great  productive  interests  of  the  United  States  now 
need  is,  not  protective  duties,  but  MARKETS.  To  remedy  the 
evils  which  are  now  to  be  faced,  wise  counsels  are  needed  in 
Congress.  The  attention  of  our  law-makers  must  be  diverted 
from  the  making  of  Presidents  and  the  distribution  of  pat 
ronage  to  the  economic  questions  upon  the  proper  solution 
of  which  the  permanent  well-being  of  the  people  most 
depends.  These  questions  are  the  currency,  shipping,  and  the 
tariff.  The  currency  question  must  soon  come  to  the  front  as 
a  vital  question.  My  views  upon  this  question  have  been  fre 
quently,  officially  and  unofficially,  expressed.  About  our  tariff 
and  shipping  I  must  say  a  few  words  more. 

The  Government  is  mainly  to  be  supported,  as  it  was 
before  the  late  civil  war,  by  a  tax  upon  imports,  which, 
although  the  most  insidious,  and  in  some  respects  the  most 
unequal  of  all  taxes,  is,  as  it  has  always  been,  the  most  popu 
lar,  by  reason  of  its  being  felt  only  indirectly  by  consumers. 
Against  such  duties  there  never  will  be  serious  complaint,  and 
when  judiciously  imposed,  separated  as  the  United  States  are 
from  European  nations  by  the  broad  Atlantic  (neither  Canada 
nor  Mexico,  nor  the  South  American  States  can  be  formidable 
competitors),  they  will  afford  all  the  protection  that  our 
manufacturers  really  need  or  can  fairly  claim.  In  asking 
more  than  this,  they  are  asking  that  the  whole  people  shall 
continue  to  be  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  a  few.  Much  the 
larger  part  of  the  revenue  required  for  the  support  of  this 
Government  and  the  payment  of  the  national  debt  must  be 
derived  from  duties  upon  imports;  and  it  will  therefore  be 


510  ME^T   AXD    MEASURES    OF  HALF   A    CENTUKY. 


impossible  so  to  reduce  them  that  they  will  not  be  protective. 
A  tariff  for  revenue  only  is  what  is  now  required  to  open  foreign 
markets  to  our  various  manufactured  goods  and  our  agricultural 
productions.  Without  these  markets  our  great  industrial  inter 
ests  can  never  be  permanently  prosperous.  Time  will  be 
required  to  overcome  what  has  already  been  lost,  but  it  will  be 
recovered,  and  more  than  recovered,  if  wisdom  prevails  in  our 
national  councils.  The  opinion  which  I  formed  when  I  was 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  —  from  1865  to  1869  —  that  the  well- 
established  factories  in  the  United  States  no  longer  needed 
protection,  was  confirmed  by  my  observations  while  I  resided 
in  England.  Wages  are  lower  in  Great  Britain  than  in  the 
United  States,  but  labor  is  less  effective.  Men  move  quicker 
and  do  more  per  day  in  the  latter  country  than  in  the  former. 
A  dollar  will  command  as  much  service  in  manufacturing  in 
the  United  States  as  in  Great  Britain.  Besides,  manufactur 
ing  is  no  longer  the  work  of  hands  chiefly,  but  of  machinery, 
in  the  invention  and  use  of  which  Americans  excel  all  other 
peoples.  I  speak  advisedly,  when  I  say  that  the  far-seeing 
British  manufacturers  look  forward  with  dread  to  the  time, 
which  is  sure  to  come  about,  when,  by  an  abandonment  of  its 
protective  policy,  the  United  States  will  become  the  great 
competitor  of  Great  Britain  in  the  markets  which  she  now 
substantially  controls.  That  a  country  with  sixty  millions 
of  people,  rapidly  increasing  in  population,  washed  by  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  with  thousands  of  miles  indented 
with  the  finest  of  harbors  ;  with  unequalled  facilities  for  ship 
building;  with  a  soil  better  fitted  to  produce  cotton,  tobacco, 
maize,  cattle  and  hogs,  than  is  possessed  by  any  other  country, 
and  with  equal  capabilities  for  the  production  of  wheat  ;  —  that 
such  a  country  should  be  without  ships  to  transport  its  surplus 
to  foreign  ports,  is  an  anomaly  in  the  history  of  nations; 
that  in  such  a  country,  with  manufactories  of  all  descrip 
tions  well  established  and  skilfully  managed,  with  plenty  of 
capital  and  cheap  money,  manufacturers,  who  have  become 


THE   TARIFF   AND   COMMERCE.  511 

enriched  by  our  protective  tariff,  should  claim  more  protec 
tion  than  a  tariff  for  revenue  will  afford,  is  unreasonable  and 
unjust. 

The  Tariff  ought  to  be  carefully  considered  not  only  with 
regard  to  its  burdens  upon  consumers,  but  in  its  bearing  upon 
commerce  and  navigation.  The  leading  nations  of  the  world 
have  been  commercial,  and  ship-building  and  ship-owning 
nations.  Such  they  were  in  medieval  ages,  and  such  they 
will  always  be.  It  was  by  such  nations  that  trade  was 
extended  and  civilization  was  carried  into  countries  that  had 
been  degraded  by  their  isolation.  By  such  nations,  in  search 
of  markets  for  their  productions,  the  American  continent  was 
discovered,  and  all  great  land  discoveries  made.  What  has 
made  Great  Britain  the  nation  she  is — the  nation  upon 
whose  domain  the  sun  never  sets?  Not  her  manufactories 
alone — extensive,  varied  and  profitable  as  they  have  been — 
but  her  manufactures,  her  commerce,  and  her  shipping  com 
bined.  Why  have  her  merchants  been  able  to  take  raw 
materials  from  all  other  nations  in  exchange  for  their  manu 
factured  goods  ?  Is  it  not  because  she  has  exempted  those  raw 
materials  from  import  duties  ?  Why  is  her  flag  seen  upon 
every  sea  ?  By  what  means  has  her  supremacy  as  a  commer 
cial  and  maritime  power  been  secured  and  maintained  ?  Is  it 
not  mainly  because  her  statesmen  have  understood  the  simple 
fact  that  trade  is  barter,  and  have  freed  it  from  all  restrictions. 
In  all  natural  advantages,  the  United  States  are  greatly  supe 
rior  to  Great  Britain.  While,  including  her  colonies,  her 
domain  is  more  extensive,  the  territory  over  which  she  has 
absolute  control  is  insignificant  in  comparison,  and  so  doubtful 
is  her  hold  upon  her  colonial  possessions,  that  some  of  her 
wisest  statesmen  have  thought  that  she  would  be  stronger 

°  o 

without  them.  In  what  respect  is  she  superior  to  the  United 
States  ?  Not  certainly  in  productions  of  prime  necessity,  not 
in  cotton  or  wool,  not  in  cattle  nor  swine,  or  grain  of  all  kinds, 
not  even  in  what  may  be  called  luxuries,  such  as  fruits  of  all 


512  MEN    AND   MEASUKES    OF   HALF   A    CENTURY. 

descriptions — not  in  precious  metals,  nor  even  in  iron,  lead  or 
copper,  which  are  more  valuable  than  the  precious  metals  ;  nor 
in  the  inventive  power  and  manufacturing  skill  of  her  people. 
In  everything  necessary  for  national  growth,  everything  need 
ful  for  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  people,  the  United 
States  are  vastly  superior  to  Great  Britain.  In  two  things 
only  are  they  inferior ;  in  commerce,  by  which  is  meant  free 
exchanges  of  natural  and  artificial  productions,  and  in  shipping, 
without  which  in  combination  they  cannot  take  precedence  of 
Great  Britain,  and  become  what  they  ought  to  be,  and  what, 
with  wise  legislation,  they  would  soon  become,  the  leading 
nation  of  the  world,  to  which  all  other  nations  would  be  tribu 
tary.  Without  freer  exchanges  and  a  revival  of  their  shipping 
interests,  the  United  States,  no  matter  how  rich  and  populous 
they  may  become,  will  never  be  a  great  nation  in  all  that  is 
needful  for  national  greatness.  No  nation  can  be  truly  great 
that  depends  upon  other  nations  for  the  means  of  transport 
ing  its  productions  to  foreign  markets,  or  lessens  the  demand 
for  them  by  restrictions  upon  trade.  A  half  century  ago  the 
United  States  were  almost  supreme  upon  the  ocean.  Now 
they  have  no  rank  as  a  maritime  power. 

Among  my  acquaintances  in  Boston  was  Mr.  Paul  Peter 
Francis  Degrand,  who  may  be  recollected  by  some  of  the  old 
citizens  of  that  city.  Mr.  Degrand  was  a  Frenchman  of  exten 
sive  business  knowledge,  who  was  greatly  interested  in  the 
growth  of  the  United  States  as  a  maritime  and  commercial 
nation.  He  was  no  friend  of  the  English,  and  he  looked  hope 
fully  to  the  time  when  the  United  States  and  not  Britannia 
should  rule  the  waves.  In  the  last  conversation  which  I  had 
with  him,  before  leaving  for  the  West,  he  said  :  "  My  young 
friend,  you  are  going  to  the  new  country,  where  you  will  have 
plenty  of  other  things  to  think  about  than  the  business  of  the 
seas ;  but  if  you  will  come  back  to  Boston  ten  or  fifteen  years 
hence,  I  will  have  the  pleasure  of  congratulating  you  upon  the 
fact  that  the  sceptre  has  been  wrested  from  England  by  what 


NEGRO   SUFFRAGE.  513 

a  few  years  ago  was  one  of  her  colonies — that  her  ocean 
supremacy  has  been  lost  forever."  He  did  not,  I  believe,  live 
long  enough  to  see  how  baseless  were  his  hopes. 

I  am  proud  of  my  country,  of  her  growth,  her  greatness, 
and  especially  of  her  free  institutions ;  but  I  cannot  help  being 
humiliated  by  the  consideration  that  our  merchants  must 
establish  credits  in  London,  in  order  to  pay  for  their  purchases 
abroad ;  and  that  our  Government  is  compelled  to  maintain  an 
agency  in  that  city  for  the  payment  of  its  representatives  in  for 
eign  lands,  and  the  expenses  of  its  ships  of  war  in  foreign  ports. 

While  the  abolition  of  slavery  has  put  an  end  to  the 
original  cause  of  sectional  antipathy,  it  would  be  fortunate  for 
the  country  if  questions  of  a  very  serious  character  had  not 
arisen  in  consequence  of  it.  With  the  boon  of  freedom  came 
the  elective  franchise.  By  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  in 
the  passage  of  which  the  Southern  States  had  no  voice,  the 
colored  people  of  the  South,  from  a  condition  of  servitude, 
were  made  the  political  equals  of  their  former  owners.  The 
highest  of  all  privileges  was  conferred  upon  men  who  had 
never  known  freedom,  and  were  destitute  of  qualifications  for 
an  intelligent  use  of  the  ballot.  The  enfranchisement  .of  the 
recent  slaves  was  regarded  by  both  branches  of  Congress,  as 
an  indispensable  adjunct  of  freedom,  without  which  slavery 
would  not  be  absolutely  uprooted.  I  thought  this  policy  of 
immediate  enfranchisement  unwise  and  dangerous  at  the  time, 
and  the  results  have  not  been  such  as  to  change  my  opinion. 
It  has  added  largely  to  the  political  power  of  the  South  with 
out  increasing,  to  any  considerable  extent,  the  number  of 
independent  voters.  By  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  recent  slaves,  the  dividing  line  between 
the  two  races,  instead  of  being  obliterated,  has  been  more 
strictly  defined.  As  it  had  become  apparent  before  the  war 
that  the  country  could  not  permanently  remain  part  slave  and 
part  free — that  sooner  or  later  either  freedom  or  slavery  must 
33 


514     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

become  dominant — so  now  it  is  apparent,  that  in  the  States  in 
which  slavery  recently  existed,  one  race  or  the  other  must 
exercise  political  control.  That  the  true  interests  of  both 
races  require  that  this  control  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
white,  there  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt.  To  doubt  it  would  be 
a  tacit  admission,  not  only  that  the  African  race  is  intellect 
ually  equal  to  the  Caucasian,  but  that  the  severe  and  continued 
discipline  to  which  the  latter  has  been  subjected  in  its  long 
struggle  for  higher  and  higher  civilization  has  given  it  no 
superiority  over  the  former,  degraded  and  enslaved  as  it  has 
been  for  countless  ages. 

A  hater  of  slavery  as  I  have  always  been,  with  no  preju 
dice  against  colored  men,  but  on  the  contrary  entertaining  for 
them  the  kindest  feeling,  and  anxious  as  any  man  can  be  for 
their  elevation  and  welfare,  it  is  very  evident  to  me  that  at 
the  time  of  their  emancipation  and  enfranchisement  they  were 
not,  are  not  yet,  and  probably  never  will  be,  qualified  to  prop 
erly  control  the  government  of  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union. 
Hitherto  they  have  been  in  many  instances,  most  unfortu 
nately,  the  tools  of  designing  white  men,  who  have  used  them 
for  other  purposes  than  their  own  advantage,  or  the  public 
good.  This  was  witnessed  in  the  history  of  South  Carolina, 
when  by  the  exercise  of  the  Federal  power,  they  had  the  control 
of  that  State.  That  they  have  been  used  in  other  States  for 
pernicious  purposes,  cannot  be  honestly  denied.  It  was  their 
votes  that  placed  in  power  the  men  who  loaded  States  with 
enormous  debts ;  their  votes  which  afterwards  gave  the  control 
to  men  by  whom  these  debts  were  repudiated.  Had  it  not 
been  for  the  colored  votes,  the  ante-war  debt  of  Virginia 
would  long  since  have  been  settled  in  a  manner  satisfactory 
both  to  the  tax-payers  and  holders  of  her  bonds,  and  the 
credit  of  the  State  freed  from  the  stain  of  repudiation,  which 
now  rests  upon  it.  Politics  force  even  fair-minded  men  into 
strange  inconsistencies.  The  same  men  who.  in  our  large 
cities,  regard  with  apprehension  the  increasing  power  which  is 


MLS  RULE   IX    THE   SOUTH.  515 

wielded  in  municipal  elections  by  those  who  have  no  property 
to  be  protected  or  taxed,  manifest  little  sympathy  for  the 
white  people  of  the  South  in  their  efforts  to  prevent  the  polit 
ical  control,  not  only  of  their  cities,  but  of  their  States,  from 
passing  into  the  hands  of  those  who  have  little  or  no  property, 
and  are  quite  unfit  for  the  exercise  of  sovereign  authority. 
If  New  York,  Boston,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  were 
independent  cities,  with  no  laws  in  force  except  those  which 
were  enacted  by  their  aldermen,  how  long  would  the  property 
in  these  cities  retain  its  present  value  ?  How  long  would  the 
earnings  of  honest  industry  be  protected  ?  If  the  political  con 
trol  of  such  States  as  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi — the  latter 
with  a  population  of  4Y9,371  whites,  and  652,221  colored ;  the 
former  with  a  population  of  391,244  whites,  and  604,398  col 
ored,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  majority,  how  long  would  these 
States  be  desirable  or  even  safe  States  for  white  men  to  live  in  '* 
Cities  are  protected  by  State  laws  and  State  authority.  States 
have  no  outside  protection  against  a  majority  misrule.  The 
colored  people  are  already  not  only  a  majority  in  some  of  the 
States,  but  according  to  the  recent  returns  are  increasing  much 
more  rapidly  than  the  whites.  What,  then,  is  there  to  prevent 
them  from  taking  the  sovereignty  of  these  States  absolutely 
into  their  own  hands  ?  It  is  the  general,  but  to  a  large  degree 
unexpressed,  sentiment  of  the  thoughtful  people  of  the  United 
States  that  our  naturalization  laws  are  injudicious  and  dan 
gerous — that  the  franchise  should  have  been  conferred  upon 
native-born  citizens  only.  With  what  favor,  then,  can  the  Recon 
struction  Act,  which  gave  the  ballot  to  nearly  a  million  of  men 
who  had  been  recently  relieved  from  slavery  be  regarded  \ 
The  foreigners  who  come. to  our  shores  to  become  citizens, 
undesirable  as  many  of  them  may  be,  belong  to  the  great  Cau 
casian  family,  by  which  the  country  was  first  settled.  The 
colored  people  are  an  alien  race,  a  distinct  people,  and  can  never 
be  assimilated  to  the  white  race.  When  liberty  to  the  slave 
was  proclaimed  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  confirmed  by  amendment 


516     MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

of  the  Constitution,  the  prevailing  opinion  of  Northern  men 
was,  that  the  colored  people  would  rapidly  decline  in  num 
bers,  and  pass  away,  as  has  been  the  case  with  the  Indians ; 
or  be  scattered  over  the  county  where  laborers  were  scarce. 
Such  has  not  been  the  case.  Instead  of  diminishing  in  num 
bers,  they  have  been  rapidly  increasing.  Instead  of  availing 
themselves  of  their  freedom,  by  leaving  their  old  homes, 
they  have,  with  rare  exceptions,  remained  there.  Their  local 
attachments  are  strong,  and  the  climate  of  the  South  is  not 
only  the  climate  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed,  but  the 
climate  to  which  they  are  by  nature  adapted.  They  are 
more  needed  there,  and  are  better  off  than  they  would  be  in 
any  of  the  Northern  or  Western  States.  They  will  remain 
and  rapidly  increase  where  they  are,  and  there  must  the 
serious  questions  growing  out  of  their  emancipation  be  met 
and  solved.  What  the  solution  will  be,  no  one  can  foresee 
with  certainty.  I  hazard  the  opinion,  however,  that  none  of 
the  Southern  States  will  ever  be  permanently  subject  to  the 
domination  of  the  colored  people.  If,  by  their  superior  num 
bers,  they  should  obtain  political  control,  their  exercise  of  it 
would  be  similar  to  that  which  was  witnessed  in  South  Caro 
lina,  soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  against  which  the  indig 
nation  of  the  whole  country  was  aroused.  How,  then,  can  this 
domination  be  prevented  ?  First  the  General  Government 
should  abstain  as  it  has  done  for  some  years  from  all  inter 
ference  with  local  affairs.  Second,  in  filling  the  Federal 
offices  in  the  Southern  States,  men  of  the  highest  reputation 
for  intelligence  and  integrity  should  be  selected.  Immense 
injury  was  done  in  1869  and  1870  to  the  Southern  States,  and 
consequently  to  the  whole  country,  by  the  appointment  of 
men  who  were  notoriously  unfit  for  the  positions  to  which 
they  were  appointed  ;  men  who  used  their  offices  to  advance, 
not  the  public  interests,  but  their  own.  It  was  impossible 
but  that  the  white  people  of  these  States  should  have  felt 
unkindly  toward  the  Government,  by  the  power  of  which 


THE     CARPET-BAG    REGIME.  517 

they  bad  been  crushed  upon  the  battle-field,  and  deprived  of 
what  had  been  property  under  an  institution  whose  roots 
were  entwined  with  their  economical  and  social  systems.  But 
this  feeling  wrould  soon  have  passed  away,  if  carpet-baggers 
which  in  most  cases  was  only  a  name  for  plunderers,  had  not 
been  appointed  to  Federal  offices  in  the  Southern  States.  In 
the  position  which  I  held  at  the  time,  I  had  favorable  opportu 
nities  for  knowing  what  the  feelings  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
South  were  at  the  close  of  the  war.  I  did  not  expect  that 
men  who  had  been  conquered  and  stripped  of  everything  but 
their  land,  and  in  some  cases  even  of  that;  who  in  four  years 
had  been  reduced  from  most  prosperous  circumstances  to  a 
state  of  absolute  destitution,  would  be  grateful  to  the  Govern 
ment  by  which — albeit  by  their  own  fault — these  evils  had 
come  upon  them  ;  but  I  was  most  favorably  impressed  with 
the  disposition  which  they  manifested  to  accommodate  them 
selves  to  their  changed  condition,  unpleasant  as  it  was,  and 
to  become  again  law-abiding  citizens  of  the  Republic.  If  the 
advice  of  the  lamented  Andrew,  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
had  been  followed  ;  if  the  proffered  hand  of  friendship  and 
conciliation  had  not  been  rejected,  and  the  Southern  people 
had  not  been  prevented,  in  their  own  but  strictly  legal  way, 
from  restoring  their  waste  places,  and  building  up  their  ruined 
fortunes,  the  South  would  not  have  been  politically  solid.  It 
was  the  action  of  the  Government  after  the  war  was  ended 
and  submission  had  been  yielded  to  the  Federal  authority,  and 
the  unwise  administration  of  Federal  patronage,  which  pro 
duced  this  political  solidity.  It  is  the  outside  pressure — the 
efforts  of  politicians  to  retain  or  acquire  power — that  are  keep 
ing  sectional  feeling  alive.  By  the  honors  conferred  upon 
Confederate  generals — by  the  respect  which  was  shown  by 
Congress  to  the  Vice-President  of  the  Confederacy,  the  Gov 
ernment  has  been  precluded  from  regarding  the  war  as  trea 
sonable  (for  treason  is  always  and  everywhere  an  unpardon 
able  crime);  neither  in  the  opinion  of  the  people  of  the  South 


518     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

was  it  even  a  rebellion  against  a  recognized  and  superior  gov 
ernment.  It  was  an  attempted  assertion  by  violence  of  a 
right  for  which  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the  South  had 
always  contended — the  right  of  States  to  secede  from  the 
Union  in  the  exercise  of  their  State  sovereignty.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  resort  to  arms  for  a  settlement  of  a  question  that  could 
not  be  settled  in  any  other  way.  Fortunately  for  the  people 
of  the  whole  country,  it  was  settled  rightly  and  definitely  and 
forever.  Enormous  as  was  the  cost  of  the  settlement  in 
money  and  in  blood,  it  is  small  in  comparison  with  what  the 
country  and  the  whole  country  would  have  suffered  if  the 
right  of  secession  had  been  established,  and  the  Union  (the 
maintenance  of  which  is  not  only  essential  to  all  who  live 
under  it,  but  to  the  cause  of  liberty  throughout  the  world), 
had  been  rent  asunder  with  never-ending  strife  between  the 
separated  States.  But  nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  the  consid 
eration  of  what  might  have  been  under  a  different  and  wiser 
system  of  government  policy.  The  error  has  been  committed  ; 
what  is  now  to  be  done  is  to  modify  and  overcome  as  far 
as  practicable  its  effects,  and  after  outside  interference  has 
been  discontinued,  and  the  colored  people  understand  that  the 
Government,  by  their  emancipation,  has  done  for  them  all  it 
can  do,  and  that  hereafter  their  welfare  and  elevation  must 
depend  upon  their  own  efforts  the  great  problem  of  what  is  to 
be  the  political  future  of  these  States  must  be  worked  out  by 
the  joint  action  of  the  two  races. 

The  whites  being  the  superior  race  in  intelligence  and  energy, 
and  the  chief  landholders,  must  be  the  dominant  race,  but 
this  domination  must  be  maintained  without  violence,  and 
without  disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  colored  race.  The  fran 
chise  having  been  granted,  there  must  be  a  free  ballot,  and 
this,  in  my  judgment,  will  very  soon  bring  about  a  division  of 
the  colored  vote.  Nothing  will  be  more  sure,  after  outside 
interference  has  ceased,  to  make  this  vote  solid,  than  preven 
tion  of  a  free  exercise  of  opinion  at  the  polls.  Let  the  colored 


DIVISION    OF   THE   COLORED   VOTE.  519 

people  understand  that  they  can  vote  as  they  please,  and  the 
solidity  of  their  vote  will  disappear.  When  divided,  it  may 
be  for  a  time  under  the  influence  of  demagogues,  but  their 
influence  will  be  short-lived.  Demagogues  always  fail  to  make 
good  their  promises  and  live  up  to  their  professions,  and  this 
the  colored  people  will  readily  find  out.  The  best  interests  of 
the  two  races  are  the  same.  They  cannot  be  permanently  dis 
united.  There  is  no  antagonism  on  the  part  of  the  colored 
people  toward  the  white,  except  that  which  has  been  created 
by  partisans  for  party  purposes,  or  by  demagogues  for  their 
own  base  ends.  There  cannot  be  antagonism  on  the  part  of  the 
white  people  toward  the  colored,  on  whom  they  must  mainly 
depend  for  the  cultivation  of  their  fields,  and  to  whom  all 
gratitude  is  due  for  their  admirable  behavior  in  the  late  civil 
war.  That,  during  a  war  which  called  into  the  Confederate 
service  not  only  all  the  able-bodied  white  men  of  the  South, 
but  all  who  could  render  it  service  of  any  kind,  and  left  thou 
sands  of  families  under  the  protection  of  slaves,  there  should 
not  have  been  a  single  instance  of  violence,  and  scarcely  one  of 
unfaithfulness,  is  one  of  the  marvels  in  the  history  of  the  civil 
war.  As  long  as  the  memory  of  the  conduct  of  the  slaves  in 
this  momentous  struggle  is  cherished,  antagonism  between 
the  races  would  be  as  unnatural  as  it  would  be  prejudicial  to 
their  mutual  interests. 

I  have  said  more  than  I  intended  to  say  upon  the  effect  of 
the  bestowment  of  the  franchise  upon  the  recent  slave,  but  I 
cannot  forbear  to  say  a  few  words  upon  the  greater  problem 
of  what  is  to  be  the  effect  of  unrestricted  manhood  suffrage, 
which  exists  in  all  the  States  except  Rhode  Island.  I  say 
unrestricted,  because  in  most  of  the  States  the  payment  of  a 
poll  tax  is  the  only  qualification,  and  the  payment  of  this 
tax  by  candidates  for  office  is  too  frequently  the  price  paid 
for  votes.  The  suffrage  question  presents  problems  as  diffi 
cult  of  solution  in  the  North  as  in  the  South.  There  is  more 


520  MEX    AND    MEASUKES    OF   HALF   A    CEJSTTUEY. 

liostility  between  the  poor  and  the  rich — between  the  employ 
ers  and  the  employed — -in  the  Northern  and  Western  States 
than  there  is,  or  ever  can  be,  between  the  white  and  colored 
people  of  the  South.  The  enormous  increase  of  the  wealth  in 
these  States  has  not  been  widely  distributed.  It  has  been 
largely  confined  to  a  comparative  few,  whose  gains  have  not 
been  generally  the  result  of  legitimate  business,  but  of  monop 
olies  of  various  kinds,  and  the  profits  of  enterprises  in  which 
the  many  have  had  no  share.  There  are  no  legalized  monop 
olies  in  the  United  States,  and  yet  there  is  no  other  country 
in  the  world  in  which  monopolies  exist  to  a  greater  degree. 
Where  else  is  the  trade  of  large  cities  and  small  so  steadily 
finding  its  way  into  few  hands — where  is  concentrated  capital 
so  omnipotent  as  in  the  United  States?  Money  is  becoming 
steadily  the  controlling  power  in  this  free  land  of  ours.  In  its 
acquisition,  the  end  seems  to  justify  the  means.  With  the 
accumulation  of  wealth  by  a  comparative  few,  there  has  been 
a  growing  antagonism  on  the  part  of  manual  laborers,  and 
also  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  been  only  partially  suc 
cessful  in  business  enterprises,  not  only  against  those  who  have 
become  suddenly  rich,  but  against  all  rich  people.  This  antag 
onism  is  exhibited  in  our  large  cities,  and  it  will  become 
intensified  as  inequalities  increase.  To  such  a  degree  does  this 
antagonism  already  exist,  that  if  the  cities  which  I  have 
named  were  freed  from  the  protecting  laws  of  the  States  to 
Avhich  they  belong,  they  would  hardly  be,  as  has  been  said, 
safe  cities  for  rich  men  to  live  in.  What  is  to  be  the  fate  of 
these  cities  when  the  States  become  densely  inhabited  ?  is  cer 
tainly  a  question  of  as  much  interest  to  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  as  is  the  question,  How  can  the  colored  vote 
be  properly  controlled  ?  to  the  people  of  the  South.  The 
problem  of  manhood  suffrage  is  as  likely  to  be  of  as  difficult 
solution,  consistently  with  the  proper  protection  of  persons 
and  property  in  the  Northern  States  as  in  the  Southern.  The 
people  of  the  North  will  have  enough  to  do  at  home  for  self- 


POLITICAL    FREEDOM    AT    THE    SOUTH.  521 

preservation,  without  troubling  themselves  as  to  what  may  be 
happening  in  the  South. 

"  Should  I  be  well  received  in  Georgia,'1  said  a  citizen  of 
New  York  to  a  Georgian ;  "•  should  I  be  well  received  in 
Georgia  if  I  should  go  there  to  become  a  citizen  of  the 
State  ? "  "  Certainly  you  would,"  was  the  reply.  "  Should  I 
feel  myself  at  liberty  to  avow  myself  a  Republican,  and  vote 
the  Republican  ticket  as  I  do  in  New  York  ? "  "  Unques 
tionably,  sir."  "  But  if  I  should  go  to  your  country,  and 
attempt  to  build  up  a  Republican  party  there,  to  be  chiefly 
composed  of  the  blacks,  how  then  ? "  "  You  certainly  would 
not  do  that,"  was  the  answer.  The  New  Yorker  thought  this 
answer  sufficient  to  justify  the  opinion  that  there  was  no 
political  freedom  in  Georgia.  Now  suppose  the  Georgian  had 
become  the  questioner.  "  If  I,  a  Georgia  Democrat  and 
recent  slave-holder,  should  go  to  New  York  to  live,  should  I 
be  as  well  received  by  Republicans  as  if  I  were  one  of  their 
own  party  ? "  "  Undoubtedly,"  would  have  been  the  reply ; 
"your  right  to  be  a  Democrat  and  vote  the  Democratic 
ticket,  would  never  be  questioned."  "•  But  if  I  should  under 
take  to  strengthen  the  Democratic  party  by  working  with 
foreigners  and  socialists,  and  urging  them  to  unite  in  active 
aggression  upon  the  capitalists  of  the  State ;  or  if  I  should  go 
into  the  manufacturing  districts,  and  should  advise  the  work 
men  to  combine  for  the  protection  of  their  rights,  and  build 
up  a  working-man's  party,  what  then  ? "  "  You  certainly 
would  not  do  that,"  would  have  been  the  proper  reply.  We 
see  no  harm  in  a  united  colored  vote  at  the  South,  but  we  are 
wide  awake  to  the  danger  of  a  united  vote  of  foreigners  and 

o 

socialists,  and  laboring  men  generally  in  our  Northern  cities. 
The  danger  which  threatens  our  large  cities  and  manufactur 
ing  districts  owes  its  existence  to  the  fact  that  the  political 
control  of  such  cities  and  districts  is  passing  into  the  hands  of 
men  who  have  nothing  at  stake.  It  is  not  especially  capital 
that  is  thus  endangered.  Capitalists  know  how  to  take  care 


522     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

of  themselves.  They  are  not  the  chief  sufferers  by  bad  laws 
and  the  bad  administration  of  them,  but  the  hard-working, 
economical  classes,  who,  by  industry  and  thrift,  are  endeavor 
ing  to  make  an  honest  living.  The  safety  of  every  industrious 
tax-payer  in  the  Northern  cities  and  manufacturing  districts 
would  be  imperilled  by  the  domination  of  those  who  contribute 
little  or  nothing  to  the  public  revenues. 

I  said  in  the  first  chapter,  that  the  gains  of  wealth  in  the 
United  States  were  mainly  the  result  of  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  industry,  and  of  the  increase  in  the  value  of 
land  ;  and  that  this  increase  in  the  value  of  land  was  in  a  very 
great  degree  attributable  to  canals  and  railroads,  chiefly  the 
latter,  without  which  the  most  of  the  country  would  have 
remained  a  wilderness,  etc.  There  is,  in  these  times,  much 
discussion  in  regard  to  landed  property,  and  it  is  claimed  b}^ 
even  fair-minded,  intelligent  men,  that  land  is  the  gift  of  God, 
to  which  none  should  have  the  right  of  exclusive  ownership ; 
— that  the  manner  in  which  it  is  held  in  all  civilized  countries 
is  a  wrong  to  the  public,  and  the  main  cause  of  the  poverty 
which  is  so  generally  prevalent.  That  in  some  countries  land 
is  held  in  too  large  quantities  by  comparatively  few  people, 
whose  ownership  is  perpetuated  by  legislation  or  sovereign 
power,  is  undoubtedly  true.  In  such  countries  there  is  little 
free  trade  in  land,  and  the  ownership  of  a  home,  no  matter 
how  humble,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people.  The  effect  of  this  has  been  the  creation  of  a  landed 
aristocracy,  to  the  power  of  which  labor  has  been  subjected. 
Nothing  of  this  kind,  exists  in  the  United  States.  Here  not 
only  is  there  free  trade  in  land,  but  the  Government  has  been 
for  years,  by  homestead  laws  and  the  low  prices  at  which  its 
immense  territories  of  fertile  lands  have  been  subject  to  entry, 
holding  out  the  strongest  possible  inducements  to  industrious 
people  to  secure  for  themselves  homes.  Strangely  enough, 
however,  some  of  the  most  earnest  opponents  of  the  exclusive 
ownership  of  land  are  in  the  United  States.  In  their  opinion, 


THE   DISCUSSION   ABOUT   LAND.  523 

as  land  was  not  created  by  man,  no  man  should  be  the  abso 
lute  owner  of  any  portion  of  it ; — that  it  should  be  held  by  the 
State  for  the  benefit  of  all.  To  correct  the  wrong  which  land- 
ownership  is  inflicting  upon  the  public,  these  advocates  of 
equal  rights  contend  that  land  should  be  so  taxed  that  the 
owner  would  be  willing  to  surrender  his  right  to  it. 

Land,  it  is  true,  is  the  gift  of  God,  but  it  is  by  man's 
labor  that  it  has  been  made  valuable.  It  is  admitted  by  the 
land  reformer,  that  the  improvements,  being  of  man's  crea 
tion,  should  not  be  taxed ;  but  it  is  the  improvements  that 
have  given  value  to  the  land,  and  it  would  be  practically 
impossible  to  tax  the  latter  without  taxing  the  former.  Nearly 
all  the  land  in  the  United  States  east  of  the  Wabash  and 
Mississippi  rivers  was  covered  with  dense  forests,  and  every 
acre  of  it  which  has  been  cultivated  has  cost  more  in  labor 
and  other  needful  expenditures  than  it  would  sell  for.  I 
speak,  of  course,  of  lands  which  have  not  been  made  valuable 
by  their  minerals,  or  by  being  the  sites  of  cities  or  towns, 
or  their  proximity  to  them.  I  question  very  much  that  there 
are  any  farms  outside  of  the  prairies,  and  away  from  large 
towns,  which,  if  they  were  charged  with  the  labor  bestowed 
upon  them,  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  a  day  for  men,  and  fifty 
cents  a  day  for  women,  and  with  other  necessary  outlays 
(their  original  cost  not  included)  and  credited  with  the  mar 
ket  value  of  their  productions,  and  their  estimated  present 
value,  would  exhibit  a  balance  on  the  right  side  of  the 
account. 

No  one  who  has  known  anything  about  the  hardships 
which  were  endured  by  the  first  settlers  in  the  timbered  lands 
of  the  United  States,  their  unceasing  toil,  their  actual  want, 
not  of  the  comforts,  but  of  the  necessaries  of  life  when  in 
health,  to  say  nothing  of  what  they  needed  and  could 
not  be  supplied  with  in  sickness,  during  the  long  and 
wearisome  years  which  came  and  went  before  they  had 
cleared  enough  of  their  lands  to  enable  them  to  begin  to  enjoy 


524  31  EX   AND    MEASURES    OF    HALF   A    CENTURY. 

the  fruits  of  their  sacrifices  and  labors ;  no  one  who  has 
known  anything  about  all  this  will  be  found  among  those 
who  speak  of  land  as  being  God's  gift,  and  therefore  property 
of  which  there  should  not  be  absolute  ownership.  In  travel 
ling  from  Fort  Wayne  to  Indianapolis,  in  the  early  days  of  the 
West,  over,  or  rather  through,  roads  that  for  a  good  part  of 
the  year  could  only  be  travelled  by  men  on  foot  or  well- 
mounted  horsemen,  and  in  noticing  the  slow  progress  which 
was  being  made  in  the  opening  up  of  the  country,  the  question 
naturally  presented  itself,  Would  men  who  could  support 
themselves  in  any  other  way,  or  in  any  other  place,  make  their 
homes  in  this  wilderness,  and  undergo  the  deprivations  they 
are  to  be  subject  to,  and  labor  as  they  must  for  a  good  part  of 
their  lives  before  they  can  make  a  comfortable  living  ?  These 
settlers  were  invariably  poor  men  ;  three  or  four  hundred 
dollars  would  cover  the  entire  outfit  of  a  majority  of  them — 
their  lands,  their  teams,  their  cows,  their  farming  implements, 
their  axes  and  rifles.  It  was  chiefly  by  such  men  that  the 
timbered  lands  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  were  settled.  I  have 
seen  hundreds  of  such  beginnings,  and  have  admired  the 
endurance,  the  patience,  the  persevering  industry  by  which 
forest  lands  have  been  converted  into  productive  farms  ;  I  do 
not  say  profitable  farms,  because  few  farms  are  profitable. 
Men  who,  like  the  late  Dr.  Gwinn,  of  California,  have  bought 
at  low  prices  extensive  tracts  of  land  which  were  ready  for 
the  plough,  and  which  for  a  time  needed  no  fertilization,  and 
cultivated  them  by  machinery  for  wheat,  have  undoubtedly 
made  money  out  of  them  ;  but  as  the  wheat-producing  quali 
ties  of  the  soil  become  exhausted,  and  restoratives  become 
necessary,  profits  will  decline,  and  may  soon  disappear  alto 
gether.  Lands  naturally  adapted  to  grazing  may  yield  indefi 
nitely  good  returns,  because  they  do  not  become  exhausted  by 
being  grazed;  but  they  are  exceptional.  The  alluvial  lands  on 
the  lower  Mississippi,  and  on  some  of  its  tributaries,  might  also 
be  excepted,  for  so  deep  is  the  soil,  that  they  may  be  regarded 


FARMING   AS   A    BUSINESS.  52i> 

as  being  practically  inexhaustible ;  but  they  are  subject  to 
overflow  and  droughts,  and  good  crops  on  even  these  lands 
are  by  no  means  certain. 

On  the  whole,  farming  is  not  a  profitable  business  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  a  healthful  employment,  productive  of 
strong  and  vigorous  men  ;  but  it  is  not  attractive,  and  it  is  not 

O  O 

attractive  because  it  is  not  profitable.  Seldom  do  the  sons  of 
well-to-do  farmers  become  farmers.  As  soon  as  they  are  old 
enough  to  strike  out  for  themselves,  they  will  be  found  in  the 
towns,  not  upon  the  farms.  Nor  are  lands  in  the  old  States 
which  are  not  near  enough  to  populous  cities  to  be  profitably 
used  for  market  gardens  increasing  in  value.  So  far  is  this 
from  being  the  case  that  very  few  farms  in  those  States  could 
be  sold  to-day  for  prices  which  they  readily  commanded  twenty 
years  ago.  Investments  in  lands  which  are  valuable  for  agri 
culture  only,  are  not  regarded  with  favor  by  capitalists.  Better 
use  for  their  money  is  found  elsewhere.  If  thanks  are  due  to 
God  for  the  land,  greater  thanks  are  due  to  Him  for  the  muscle 
and  the  patient  industry  by  which  it  has  been  brought  under 
cultivation,  and  by  which  its  producing  properties  are  pre 
served  ;  and  yet  these  cultivators  of  the  soil  are  among  those 
whose  property  should  be  confiscated,  because  they  did  not 
create  what  they  have  made  valuable.  Land  is  less  able  to 
bear  heavy  taxes  than  almost  any  other  kind  of  property.  The 
taxes  to  which  cultivated  land  is  now  subjected  in  most  of  the 
States,  instead  of  being  advanced  should  be  reduced,  for  the 
purposes  of  increasing  the  number  of  farmers.  In  most  of 
the  European  States,  especially  in  Great  Britian,  lands  are 
heavily  taxed — so  heavily,  that  they  can  be  held  only  by  the 
rich.  In  that  country  the  landholders  are  monopolists,  and 
they  will  continue  to  be  so  until  free  trade  in  land  is  estab 
lished,  and  the  taxes  upon  it  are  so  reduced  that  men  of  mod 
erate  means  can  afford  to  be  the  owners. 

No  greater  mistake  was  ever  made  by  intelligent  men 
than  is  made  by  those  who  suppose  that  monopolies  can  be 


526     MEN  AND  MEASURES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

broken  up  or  weakened,  and  property  can  be  more  evenly  dis 
tributed  in  the  United  States  by  increase  of  taxes  upon  land, 
which  is  the  cheapest  thing  upon  the  market.  It  is  true  that 
in  cities,  lots  to  be  built  upon  for  homes  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  all  except  those  whose  incomes  are  considerably  greater 
than  their  outlays  ;  but  this  is  unavoidable.  Cities  are  limited 
in  extent,  and  the  value  of  lots  depends  upon  the  demand  for 
them  for  building  purposes.  In  a  few  cities,  especially  in 
Philadelphia,  some  who  belong  to  what  are  called  the  labor 
ing  classes  are  the  owners  of  their  homes,  but  this  is  not 
often  the  case.  With  comparatively  few  exceptions,  those 
whose  living  depends  upon  their  manual  labor  are  renters  or 
boarders.  There  is,  however,  compensation  for  these  depri 
vations.  Wages  are  higher  in  the  city  than  in  the  country, 
and  greater  inducements  to  save  as  well  as  to  spend  are  found 
there  than  exist  elsewhere.  Men  are  naturally  gregarious, 
and  when  thrown  together,  they  have  enjoyments  of  life, 
although  subject  to  great  discomforts.  In  cities,  however, 
as  well  as  in  the  country,  it  is  labor  and  the  fruits  of  labor 
that  have  made  the  ground  valuable,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  the  public  would  be  benefited  if  city  lots  were  to 
be  confiscated,  subject  to  the  outlay  that  has  been  made 
upon  them.  None  but  anarchists  have  gone  so  far  as  to 
contend  that  the  property  of  man's  creation  should  be  sub 
ject  to  division  among  the  people,  or  become  the  property  of 
the  State.  But  in  this  free  land  of  ours,  for  whose  benefit 
should  property  of  any  kind  be  confiscated?  Not  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  are  able  and  willing  to  work ;  for 
them  there  is  rarely  lack  of  employment  at  remunerative 
wages,  and  the  way  to  rise  in  the  world  is  open  before  them. 
Not  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  disabled — their  wants, 
when  made  known,  are  relieved  by  private  or  public  charities. 
Nine-tenths  of  the  rich  and  prominent  people  of  the  United 
States  have  made  their  upward  way  in  the  world  without 
help  from  others.  Of  the  wealthy  men,  or  the  men  of  large 


NATURAL    INEQUALITY.  527 

social  or  political  influence  whom  I  have  known  personally,  or 
with  whose  history  I  am  familiar,  I  call  to  mind  very  few 
who  have  not  made  themselves  what  they  are  by  their  own 
exertions.  With  rare  exceptions,  they  are  the  offspring  of 
poor  men,  or  of  men  of  very  limited  means.  The  opportuni 
ties  for  those  who  are  self-dependent  to  make  headway  in 
life  are  not  now,  it  is  admitted,  as  great  in  the  United  States 
as  they  were  some  years  ago ;  but  one  has  only  to  look  about 
him  to  see  large  numbers  of  such  people  rising  above  the  level 
from  which  they  started,  soon  to  be  conspicuous  in  business, 
in  society,  in  politics.  Poverty  always  has  prevailed  and 
always  will  prevail  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  in  all  countries 
—in  the  freest  as  well  as  the  most  despotic — until,  under  some 
new  dispensation,  mankind  become  equal  in  natural  gifts,  in 
capacity  and  disposition  to  acquire  and  retain,  in  mental  and 
physical  power.  Until  then  the  industrious  and  the  indolent, 
the  thrifty  and  the  unthrifty,  the  strong  and  the  weak,  the 
rich  and  the  poor,  will  be  found  in  all  communities.  If  all 
the  property  in  the  world  should  be  equally  divided,  in  a  few 
brief  years  inequalities  like  those  which  are  now  complained 
of  would  prevail.  The  differences  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
race  are  to  some  extent  produced  by  unequal  and  unjust  gov 
ernment  and  laws,  but  they  are  largely  in  most  countries,  and 
altogether  in  the  United  States,  the  result  of  constitutional 
dissimilarities,  which  always  have  and  always  will  exist. 
There  can  be  no  equalizing  power  short  of  Divine  Power,  and 
that  power  will,  as  heretofore,  continue  to  be  manifested 
through  unchanging  law. 

Of  all  governments  which  have  existed  in  civilized  nations, 
none  has  been  so  bad  as  a  paternal  government  would  be. 
The  permanency  of  our  free  institutions  depends  more  than 
anything  else  upon  our  homes — our  independent  homes.  Of 
all  property,  the  homestead  should  be  subject  to  the  lightest 
taxation.  In  some  States  humble  homes  are  protected  against 
the  claims  of  creditors ;  they  ought  everywhere  to  be  protected 


MEN  AND  MEASUKES  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY. 

against  the  tax  collector.  Great  differences  in  the  condition 
of  men  have  existed  and  will  exist  under  all  forms  of  govern 
ment,  and  these  differences  will  be  most  marked  under  the 
freest,  where  natural  gifts  have  full  play.  All  that  can  be 
done  by  the  best  government  is  to  provide  for  the  protection 
of  life  and  property,  the  enforcement  of  just  and  equal  laws  ; 
anything  more  than  this  would  be  tyranny.  Without  perfect 
liberty  to  acquire,  and  without  protection  to  whatever  may 
be  lawfully  acquired,  no  matter  what  might  be  the  character  of 
the  property,  enterprise  would  cease,  and  government  would 
be  a  mockery. 

In  looking  back  upon  a  long  life,  nothing  of  course  seems 
so  wonderful  to  me  as  the  growth  of  the  country  in  the 
physical  elements  of  national  greatness — territory,  population 
wealth.  This  growth,  so  unprecedented  in  the  world's  his 
tory,  has  been  effected  without  any  change  in  the  character 
of  the  Government ;  without  any  departure  from  the  princi 
ples  upon  which  it  was  established  or  material  change  of  the 
Constitution  which  was  adopted  for  its  preservation.  Never 
theless  changes  have  taken  place,  the  effect  of  which  upon 
our  republican  institutions  cannot  be  contemplated  without 
apprehension. 

Immigration,  considered  merely  with  regard  to  its  pecuni 
ary  and  economical  results,  has  been  of  immense  gain  to  the 
United  States.  It  is  estimated  that  since  the  formation  of  the 
Government  more  than  thirteen  millions  of  immigrants  have 
come  to  the  United  States,  and  that  if  each  brought  with  him 
sixty  dollars  in  money,  the  pecuniary  gain  has  been  about 
eight  hundred  millions  ;  but  the  gain  in  this  respect  has  been 
small  in  comparison  with  what  the  immigrants  were  worth  as 
laborers  in  the  varied  branches  of  industry.  Estimating  them 
to  have  been  equal  in  value  to  the  slaves  in  the  Southern 
States,  they  have  added  to  the  national  wealth  three  times  as 
much  as  our  national  debt  amounted  to  at  the  close  of  the 


DANGERS    OF   IMMIGRATION.  529 

civil  war.  What  the  offsets  may  be  to  this  enormous  gain 
are  yet  to  be  determined.  The  true  wealth  of  a  country  is  not 
to  be  measured  by  acreage  or  money,  but  by  the  quality  of  its 
people.  If  the  effect  of  the  foreign  immigration  should  prove 
to  be  deleterious  to  the  character  of  the  population,  the  gain 
referred  to  would  have  been  dearly  acquired. 

That  the  worst  and  most  dangerous  part  of  the  population 
of  the  United  States  are  foreigners,  is  proven  by  the  criminal 
records,  and  by  the  utterances  of  socialists.  Not  only 
have  the  industrious  and  honest  been  invited  to  come  to  our 
country  to  secure  homes  for  themselves,  but  the  door  has  been 
thrown  wide  open  to  the  lazy  and  the  disreputable — the  very 
classes  that  foreign  governments  have  been  glad  to  be  rid  of. 
Nor  is  this  all.  Money  has  been  furnished  to  enable  foreigners 
to  come  and  be  workmen  in  our  factories  and  shops  because 
they  would  work  cheaper  than  native-born  citizens.  A  very 
large  part,  if  not  a  majority,  of  the  population  in  some  of  our 
great  manufacturing  towns  are  foreigners,  many  of  whom 
have  soon  learned  enough  of  American  freedom  to  be  dis 
orderly  and  dangerous. 

The  greatest  mistake  which  has  been  made  by  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  has  been  in  conferring  upon  for 
eigners  the  elective  franchise.  So  short  is  the  period  required 
for  their  naturalization,  that  hundreds  of  thousands  have 
become  voters  before  they  knew  anything  about  the  nature  of 
republican  institutions — before  even  they  could  speak  the 
language  of  the  country.  The  majority  of  them  are  doubtless 
well-meaning  people,  but  they  naturally  fall  under  the  influence 
of  those  who  are  not.  With  the  workingmen,  have  come 
men,  who  are  revolutionists  by  nature,  or  who  have  been  made 
such  by  real  or  fancied  injustice  in  their  native  lands.  To 
denounce  the  Government,  and  to  make  their  followers  believe 
that  all  governments  are  tyrannical,  and  ought  to  be  over 
thrown,  seems  to  be  considered  by  these  men  their  especial 

duty.     Others  do  not  go  quite  so  far  as  this — they  are  more 
34 


530  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A   CENTURY. 

moderate  in  their  demands;  they  contend  that  property 
should  be  held  and  owned  in  common  ;  that  exclusive  owner 
ship  by  the  few  is  oppression  to  the  many  ;  that  the  laws 
have  been  made  by  the  rich  and  for  their  benefit,  to  the  great 
injustice  of  the  poor ;  and  that  they  should  be  so  changed 
that  all  would  fare  alike.  If  these  men,  with  their  blind  and 
ignorant  followers,  were  not  voters,  they  would  be  compara 
tively  harmless  ;  but  they  are  not  only  voters,  but  some  of 
them  active  politicians,  and  when  the  two  great  parties  are 
nearly  evenly  divided,  their  votes  are  courted  by  both.  They 
are  already  a  dangerous  class,  and  are  likely  to  become  more 
dangerous,  as  they  are  rapidly  increasing  in  numbers,  and  are 
becoming  cohesive  by  organization.  It  is  very  clear  to  my 
mind  that  none  but  native-born  citizens  ought  to  have  been 
permitted  to  be  voters ;  that  immense  risk  has  been  incurred 
—not  by  making  the  United  States  an  asylum  for  the 
oppressed — not  in  opening  the  door  for  foreigners  to  become 
inhabitants  under  the  protection  of  just  and  equal  laws,  but 
by  inviting  them  to  come  and  participate  in  the  law-making 
and  governing  power.  The  elective  franchise,  which  ought  to 
have  been  considered  the  most  precious  of  all  rights,  has  been 
freely  bestowed  upon  those  who  have  no  knowledge  of  its 
value,  and  upon  those  who  use  it  for  other  than  patriotic 
purposes. 

It  may  now  be  too  late,  in  the  present  condition  of  political 
parties,  to  change  effectively  our  naturalization  laws,  but  there 
might  be  a  limitation  upon  the  franchise  in  municipal  elec 
tions,  and  it  is  very  certain  that  this  must  be  done  if  our  large 
cities  are  to  be  properly  governed,  and  sufficient  safeguards 
are  to  be  thrown  around  persons  and  property.  Municipal 
governments  should  be  created  and  conducted  on  business 
principles.  No  one  should  be  a  voter  who  is  not  the  owner 
of  property.  The  amount  required  need  not  be  large,  but  it 
should  be  large  enough  to  indicate  that  the  voter  has  some 
thing  at  stake.  Manhood  suffrage  in  municipal  elections  is, 


FOREIGNERS    AND   THE   FRANCHISE.  531 

to  say  the  least,  a  dangerous  experiment ;  a  law  that  places 
upon  an  equality  in  voting  the  lazy  vagabond  and  the  enter 
prising  wealth-producing  citizen,  is  certainly  neither  just  nor 
reasonable. 

The  Government  is  as  I  have  said,  stronger  than  it  was  a 
half  century  ago,  but  has  not  this  increase  of  strength  been  at 
the  expense  of  republicanism  ?  We  claim  that  the  United 
States  is  the  freest  country  in  the  world — the  only  country, 
except  Switzerland,  in  which  the  people  have  equal  rights. 
Equal  rights  before  the  law  are  indeed  possessed  by  everybody 
here ;  but  are  there  not  combinations  of  interests  which  prevent 
the  full  play  of  natural  rights — which  hold  in  check  if  they 
do  not  destroy  individual  enterprise?  In  what  other  country 
can  be  found  such  companies  as  have  been  organized  in  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the  manufacture, 
the  transportation,  and  the  price  of  goods  ?  Where  can  be 
found  an  organization  like  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  which 
absolutely  controls  the  market  of  an  article  for  which  there  is 
an  immense  and  constant  demand,  and  stamps  out  competition; 
or  even  such  companies  as  have  been  formed  to  regulate  the 
production  of  iron  and  steel  and  coal  ?  In  what  other  countrv 
do  manufacturers  who  are  protected  by  tariffs  against  foreign 
competition  combine  by  trusts  and  other  agencies  to  prevent 
domestic  competition  ?  There  is  no  country  of  which  I  have 
any  knowledge  in  which  business  of  all  descriptions  is  so 
steadily  falling  into  fewer  and  fewer  hands,  in  which  combi 
nations  are  so  powerful,  and  individuals  so  powerless,  as  the 
United  States — no  country  in  which  the  solution  of  the  labor 
question  may  be  more  difficult.  We  have  yet  to  learn  that 
there  may  be  as  little  personal  freedom  under  republican 
institutions  as  under  monarchies,  and  that  the  best  efforts  of 
all  good  citizens  should  be  to  prevent  the  great  republic  from 
being  a  free  country  in  name  only. 

That  these  efforts  will  not  be  wanting  I  have  an  abiding 
faith.  Congress  has  the  power,  by  opening  the  way  for  freer 


532  MEN   AND   MEASURES   OF   HALF   A  CENTUKY. 

trade  with  other  nations,  to  destroy  most  of  the  existing 
monopolies,  and  this  power  will  ere  long  be  exerted.  There  is, 
however,  as  has  been  said,  one  danger  ahead  which  cannot  be 
easily  surmounted.  By  our  naturalization  laws — by  extending 
the  highest  privilege  to  men  utterly  destitute  of  proper  quali 
fications  for  its  exercise — by  inviting  to  our  shores  to  assist 
in  administering  the  State  and  National  governments  men 
who  consider  it  their  duty  to  fight  all  governments,  we  have 
done  much  to  make  our  grand  experiment  a  failure.  It  is 
now  impossible  to  undo  what  was  unwisely  done — to  deprive 
those  to  whom  it  has  been  granted  of  the  franchise,  but  not 
too  late  to  prevent  an  increase  of  the  threatening  danger. 
If  our  naturalization  laws,  National  and  State,  should  be  so 
changed  that  none  should  vote  in  any  elections  but  those  who, 
when  the  change  is  made,  have  the  right  to  vote,  and  that 
thereafter  none  but  the  native-born  should  be  voters,  the  dan 
ger  would  not  be  entirely  removed,  but  it  would  greatly 
lessened.  If  this  should  not  be  done — if  revolutionists,  who 
are  rapidly  increasing  in  numbers  in  Europe,  should  continue 
to  be  invited  to  come  and  participate  in  the  government  of 
the  Republic — how  long  will,  not  capitalists  only,  but  indus 
trious,  frugal,  liberty-loving  men  be  able  to  contemplate  the 
future  without  misgivings?  If  the  Republic  is  to  be  short 
lived  like  those  which  have  heretofore  existed,  unrestricted 
manhood  suffrage  will  be  the  cause.  It  is  the  only  really  grave 
danger  that  threatens  the  life  of  the  Republic. 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Josiah  G.,  417. 

Adams,  Charles  F.,  on  Mr.  McC'ul- 
loch's  first  report  to  Congress,  219. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  38,  et  seq. ;  his 
speech  on  the  right  of  petition,  38  ; 
in  favor  of  a  judicious  tariff,  506. 

Agricultural  products,  decrease  in 
value  of,  509. 

Akerman,  Mr.,  354. 

Allison,  Senator  William  B.,  419. 

Andrew,  John  A.,  Governor  of  Massa 
chusetts,  518. 

Appointments  under  Secretary  Mc- 
C'ulloch,  166. 

Arlington  Hotel,  256. 

Arthur,  President,  480,  et  seq. :  his 
administration,  482 ;  his  ability, 
483  ;  as  Vice- President,  481. 

Bache,  A.  D.,  262,  265. 

Badeau,  Adam,  358. 

Bailey,  Captain  Theodoras,  366,  367. 

Baltimore  clippers,  425. 

Bank  balances  due  the  Government, 
246. 

Bank  of  England,  value  of,  61. 

Bank  of  Michigan,  failure  of,  60. 

Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  127,  et 
seq. 

Bank  of  the  United  States,  58. 

Bank, United  States,need  of  to-day, 61. 

Bankrupt  Act,  508. 

Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  457. 

Banks,  National,  see  National  Banks. 

Barnard,  Dr.  F.  A.  P.,  258,  et  seq. 

Barnet,  James,  103. 

Bartlett,  Sidney,  22. 

Bascom,  Rev.  Mr.,  76. 

Bates   Harvey,  72. 

Bayard,  Senator  Thomas  F.,  417. 

Beecher,  Charles,  144,  148. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  settles  at  In 
dianapolis,  140  ;  character  of  his 
sermons,  141,  et  seq.;  his  taste  for 
horticulture,  143  ;  his  vitality  and 
pluck,  144  :  anecdote  of  Mr.  Beecher 
and  the  constable,  145  ;  his  habits 
of  study,  146  ;  an  independent 
thinker,  147  ;  his  freedom  •  from 
egotism,  147. 


i  Beecher,  Dr.  Lyman,  11,  148,  et  seq. 
\  Bclknap,  General,  Secretary  of  War, 

352. 

i  Bennett,  James  G.,  491,  49:5. 
i  Bennett,  James  G.,  Jr.,  493. 
!  Biddle,  Horace  P.,  50. 
i  Black  Friday,  213. 
|  Blackford,  Isaac,  48. 
Blainc,  James  G.,  457. 
Blair,  Gen.  F.  P.,  345. 
Blake.  James,  72. 
Blockade,  the,  362. 
Blood,  English  respect  for,  447. 
Boggs,  Charles  S.,  367.     - 
Bonds,  U.  S.,  first  proposals  for,  183; 

purchased    by  German  capitalists, 

184. 

Booth,  John  Wilkes,  225. 
Border  States,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 

Rebellion,  134,  et  seq. 
Borie,  Adolph  E.,  350. 
Boston,  growth  of,  5  ;   foreign    trade 

of  in  1831 ,  (i ;  change  in  population 

of,  6  ;  good  name  of,  8;  famous  for 

its  lawyers  fifty  years  ago,  16  ;  clergy 

of  fifty  years. ago,  27. 
Boutwell,    Geo.    S. ,  organizer  of  the 

Bureau  of   Internal    Revenue,  185, 

348. 

Bowie,  John  B.,  108. 
Buchanan,  President,  at  first  a  Fed 
eralist,  152  ;  his  character,  152  ;  his 

administration,  153. 
Buckingham,  Joseph  T.,  491,  492. 
Bull  Run,  first  battle  of,  160. 
Burlingame,  Anson,  22. 
Burroughs,  John,  166. 
Butler,  Gen.  B.  P.,  380. 
Bradford,  Mrs.,  daughter  of  Father 

Taylor,  31. 
Bradley  and  Strong,  Justices,  reason 

for  their  appointment,  173. 
Bradley,  Justice  Joseph  P.,  417,  418. 
Brandt,  Joseph,  99. 
Breckenridge.  Dr.,  of  Ky. ,  31. 
Breckenridge,  Robert,  108. 
Bribery  in  elections,  455. 
Bright  John,  474,  et  seq. 
British  ministry,  454. 


534 


INDEX. 


Brodhead,  I.  M.,  249. 

Brooks,  Preston  S.,22. 

Bryant,  Wm.  C.,  491,  492. 

Cabinet,  the,  454. 

Calhoun,  Mr.,  17. 

Calvinists  and  Unitarians,  12. 

Calvinism,  orthodox,  fifty  years  ago, 
14  ;  decline  of,  15. 

Canby,  Gen.,  340. 

Capital  and  labor,  contests  between, 
489. 

Carlisle,  John  G.,  457. 

Carpet-baggers,  517. 

Cass,  Gen.  Lewis,  87,  100,  et  seq. 

Catechism,  Westminster,  estimate  of 
in  N.  E.  fifty  years  ago,  10. 

Cater,  John  W.,  431. 

Catholic  Church,  her  claims  to  infalli 
bility  an  element  of  strength,  33. 

Cedar  Creek,  battle  of,  281. 

Chandler,  William  E.,  appointed  As 
sistant  Sec.  of  Treas.,  236  ;  Sec 
retary  of  the  Navy,  484. 

Channing,  Dr.,  10,  11  ;  character  and 
ability  of,  27,  et  scq. 

Chase,  Secretary,  makes  Mr.  McCul- 
loch  Comptroller  of  the  Currency, 
164,  et  seq.;  his  accomplishments, 
181,  et  seq.;  financial  ability  of,  185; 
his  mistakes,  186;  ambition  of,  186; 
as  Chief  Justice,  187  ;  relations 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  188. 

Chemical  Bank  of  X.  Y.,  119,   133. 

Chicago,  42. 

Chickamauga,  battle  of,  328. 

"Chitty  on  Pleading,  "*92. 

Choate,  Unfits,  21,  23. 

Churches  of  the  North,  their  early  atti 
tude  to  Slavery,  33. 

Cincinnati  in  1833,  40  ;  a  commercial 
city  at  first,  42;  now  mainly  manu 
facturing,  43,  tt  seq.  ;  wealth  and 
character  of,  44,  45. 

Circuit  riding,  93. 

Cities,  life  in  the,  526. 

Civil  service  reform,  452. 

Centralization,  Federal,  increasing  ten 
dency  towards,  499,  et  aeq. 

Claims^  Southern,  on  the  Government 
for  confiscated  property,  235,  et  seq. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman,  32. 

Clay,  Henry,  22,  457  ;  on  the  tariff, 
500. 

Clergy  of  Boston  fifty  years  ago,  27. 

Cleveland,  President,  characterization 
of,  485,  et  seq.;   Senator  Thurman's 
opinion    of,    496 ;     attack     on,    by 
North  American  Review,  496. 
Clifford,  Nathan,  417. 


Coburn,  John,  72. 

Coe,  Dr.,  of  Indianapolis,  72. 

Coercion  of  the  seceding  States  op 
posed  at  first  in  Ind.  and  111.,  156, 
158. 

Col  fax.  Schuyler,  346,  457. 

Colored  people  increasing  in  the  South, 
516. 

Colored  voters,  514. 

Colwell,  Stephen,  239. 

Commerce  and  shipping  essential  to  a 
great  State,  512. 

Commerce  of  Great  Britain,  511 

Commissioners  of  internal  revenue, 
238,  et  seq. 

Commons,  British  House  of,  453. 

Comparet,  Francis,  Id8. 

Conduct  of  the  War,  committee  on 
the,  303. 

Confederate  Government,  property  of 
confiscated,  234. 

Congregationalists  in  N.  E.  fifty  years 
ago,  10. 

Congress,  powers  of,  178. 

Constitution,  the,  Northern  views  of, 
154;  of  the  U.  S.,  456;  the  British, 
456. 

Contraction  of  the  currency,  211,  et 
seq. 

Cooke,  Jay,  191,  246. 

Cooking,  good,  importance  of,  443. 

Cooper,  Edmund,  of  Tenn.,  236. 

Cooper,   Peter,  415. 

Corn  Laws,  429. 

Corwin,  Thomas,  62,  his  eloquence,  63, 
et  seq.  ;  his  patriotism,  65. 

Couch,  Gen.,  340. 

Courier  and  Enquirer,  the,  of  N.  Y. 
491,  492. 

Courts,  circuit,  in  Indiana,  92. 

Cox,  Gen.  J.  D.,  quotation  from  his 
"March  to  the  Sea,"  289,  et  seq.; 
340,  349. 

Craig,  Benjamin  N.,  262,  268 

Crary,  Gen.,  of  Michigan,  63. 

Craven,  Thomas  T.,367. 

Credit  Mobilier,  108. 

Credit,  national,  in  1860, 183 ;  improve 
ment  of,  184. 

Credit  system,  abuse  of,  218. 

Creighton,  Judge,  108. 

Creswell,  John  A.  G.,  349. 

Criminal  classes  in  U.  S.,  mostly  for 
eigners,  529. 

Crises,  not  caused  by  insufficient  cur 
rency,  213  ;  causes  of  the  great 
financial,  of  1837  and  1857,  218. 

Crisis,  financial,  of  1857,  134  ;  of  1873, 
507. 


INDEX. 


535 


Crocker,  Charles,  89,  et  seq. 

Cunard  Steamship  Co.,  423. 

Currency,  Mr.  McCulloch's  views  on 
the,  249. 

Curtis,  Gen.,  340. 

Curtis,  Samuel  R.,  20. 

Cushing,  Caleb,  24. 

Custer,  Gen..  340. 

Dane,  Joseph,  16. 

Davis,  David,  417,  419. 

Davis.  Jefferson,  question  of  his  trial, 
408,  et  seq.;  Mr.  McCulloch's  visit 
to  at  Portress  Monroe,  409,  et  seq. 

Davis,  John  W.,  265. 

Debt  of  Great  Britain,  470,  et  seq. 

Debt,  National  ;  see  National  Debt. 

Degrand,  Mr.  Paul  Peter  Francis,  512. 

Delphi,  Indiana,  85. 

Dennison,  Mr.,  Postmaster  General, 
227,  385,  390. 

Derby,  Lord,  on  the  increase  of  wealth 
in  Great  Britain,  1. 

Dewey,  Charles,  4S,  78. 

Dexter,  Franklin,  20. 

Dexter,  Samuel,  20. 

Disraeli,  449. 

Dodge,  William  E.,  460. 

Doubleday,  General,  340. 

Dover,  N.  H.,  5. 

Drinking  habits  in  England,  460. 

Dunn,  George  G.,  50. 

Dunn.  William  McKee,  50,  421. 

Durbin.   Rev.  Mr.,  76. 

Eagle  Village,  79. 

Eames,  Mr.,  of  Treasury  Department, 
236. 

Economy  in  England,  442,  et  seq. 

Edmunds,  Senator  George  F.,  417. 

Elections.  English,  454. 

Elective  Franchise,  the,  385,  513,  et 
seq.;  should  not  be  conferred  upon 
foreigners,  529  ;  should  be  lim 
ited,  530. 

Electoral  Commission,  partisan  char 
acter  of,  418  ;  result  of  their  exam 
ination,  419. 

Electoral  Commission  Act,  417. 

Eliot,  Pres.  of  Harvard,  25. 

Emancipation,  gradual,  37 ;  further 
result  of,  516. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  28. 

Emerson,  William,  35. 

Enfranchisement  of  the  slaves,  513. 

England,  agriculture  of,  43,  et  seq.; 
compared  with  United  States,  469. 

English  Government  the,  contrasted 
with  that  of  the  United  States,  451, 


English  society,  433,  et  seq. 


Englishmen,  their  lack  of  courtesy  to 

women,  434  ;   mental  and  physical 

superiority  of,  459. 
Evarts.  Judge,  of  Indiana,  92. 
Evarts,  William  M.,  20;  as  Attorney- 
General,  407,  412. 
Evening  Post,  the,  of  New  York,  491, 

492. 

Everett,  Alexander  H.,  497. 
Everett,  Edward,  24,  497. 
Ewing,  Alexander,  of  Cincinnati,  43. 
Ewing,  Charles  W.,  106. 
Ewing,  George  W. ,  105.  et  seq. 
Ewing,  Win.  G-,  105. 
Executive  branch  of  the  Government, 

451,  et  seq. 

Fairchild,  Lucius,  358. 
Farragut  Admiral,  365, 367. 
Farming  rarely  profitable,  525. 
Farming  lands,  decrease  in  the  value 

of,  525. 
Fessenden,  Rev.  Thos.  of  Kennebunk- 

port,  12  ;  anecdote  of,  13. 
Fessenden,  William  P.,  12  ;  appointed 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,    190,   et 

seq  ;  his  action  in  the  impeachment 

trial,  192,  395,  398,  399. 
Field,  Justice  Stephen  J.,  417. 
Fill  more,  Vice-President,  481. 
Financial  difficulties  of  the  country  In 

184",  56  ;  depression  of   1837  1843, 

57  ;    prices  during,  57  ;  causes  of, 

58. 

Fish.  Hamilton,  350. 
Fletcher,  Calvin,  72. 
Fletcher,  Richard,  21. 
Forests,  early  destruction  of,  88. 
Forsyth,  Mrs  ,  111. 
Fort  Wayne,  93,  95,  98,  et  seq.  ;  103. 
Fowler,  Senator,  398. 
Franchise,  see  Elective  franchise. 
Frankfort,  Ind.,  84. 
Free  ballot  in  the  South,  519. 
Free    Bank    Act    in     Indiana,    125  ; 

methods  under,  125,  et  seq. 
Freedmen,  the,  their  possession  of  the 

elective    franchise,    385 ;    unfit   for 

the  franchise,  515. 
Free  trade,  505. 

Frelinghuysen,  Senator  F.  T.,  398,417. 
Frontiersmen  of  the  West,  109. 
Frothingham.  Rev.  Mr.,  28. 
Galaxy,  the,  of  Boston,  491,  492. 
Galena,  111..  96. 
Gales,  Joseph.  491,  492. 
Gannett,  Dr.,  28. 
Garfield,  James  A.,  417. 
Gazette,  the,  of  Cincinnati,  491,  492. 
Geary,  General,  340. 


536 


INDEX. 


Germany,  Empress  of,  450. 

Gillis,  J"  M..  262;  268. 

Gil  man,  General,  340. 

Gin  shops  in  London,  461. 

Gladstone,  Mr.,  on  Mr.  McCulloch's 
first  report  to  Congress,  220,  449  ; 
his  character  and  position,  474,  et 
seq. 

Gold  Bill,  July,  1864,  effect  of,  176. 

Gold  premium  on,  138 ;  a  standard 
of  value,  201. 

Goshen,  Ind. ,  9'«. 

Government,  paternal,  527. 

Granger,  Gen..  340. 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.,  818,  et  seq.;  the 
war,  his  good  fortune,  319  ;  his  first 
military  achievements,  320,  et  seq.  ; 
after  Donelson,  822;  at  the  battle  of 
Shiloh,  323  ;  at  Vicksburg,  325,  et 
seq.;  at  Chattanooga,  330;  made  lieu 
tenant-general,  331  ;  his  campaign 
against  Richmond,  333,  338,  et  seq.  ; 
his  method  of  carrying  on  war,  336  ; 
his  military  science,  339;  different 
estimates  of  his  merits,  341 ;  his  nomi 
nation  for  the  Presidency.  345  ;  his 
inaugural,  346  ;  his  choice  of  a  cab 
inet,  347,  et  seq.  ;  his  plan  for  the 
annexation  of  Santo  Domingo,  353  ; 
hostility  to  Mr.  Sumner,  85  (:  as  a 
civil  service  reformer,  855 ;  his  de 
fects,  357  ;  his  travels  abroad,  358,  et 
seq.  ;  the  third  term  movement, 360; 
his  business  failure,  860  ;  views  on 
the  Mexican  question,  387  ;  his  hos 
tility  to  Pres.  Johnson,  403. 

Gray. "Mr.  Justice,  177. 

Great  Britain,  increase  of  wealth  in, 
during  the  present  century,  1 ;  her 
iniquitous  opium  trade,  37;  the 
work-shop  of  nations,  505. 

Greeley,  Horace,  411.  432,  491,  492. 

Greenbacks,  Mr.  Chase  their  father, 
170;  made  legal  tender,  171  ;  Mr. 
McCulloch's  opinion  of  their  value, 
180 ;  popularity  of,  213. 

Gresham,  Gen..  340. 

Griffin,  Dr.,  of  Boston,  12. 

Grimes,  Senator,  398. 

Groesbeck,  Wm.,  21. 

Growth  of  our  country,  528. 

Gwinn,  Dr.,  of  Cal.,524. 

Hale,  E.  E  ,  32. 

Halleck,  Gen.,  275.  322,  324. 

Hamilton,  Allen,  103.  113,  et  seq.,  133. 

Hammond,  Charles,  491,  492. 

Hancock,  Gen.  W.  S  ,  293,  et  seq. 

Hanna,  Samuel,  103,  105. 

Hannegan,  Edward  A.,  50,  53. 


Harlan,  James,  Sec.  of  Interior,  385, 

390. 
Harrison,    President,    campaign,    54  : 

Election  of,  56. 
Hartley,  John  F.,  236. 
Hay  in   England  not   injured  by  the 

rain,  431. 
Hayes,    President,  340,  413  ;  declared 

President,    419  ;    his  merits,    421, 

485. 

Hayes,  S.  S.,  239. 
Hayne,  Mr.,  his  debate  with  Webster, 

17. 

Henderson,  Senator,  398. 
Hendricks,  Thos.  A.,  73,  413. 
Henry.  Prof.  Joseph,  261,  et  seq. 
Herald,  the,  of  N.  Y.,  491,  492. 
Hilgard,  J.  E.,  262,  266. 
Hoar,  E.  Rockwood,  349. 
Hoar  George  F.,  417. 
Holman,  Hon.  Wm.  S.,  105. 
Ilolman,  Judge,  105. 
Holmes,  Dr.  O.  W.,  24,  et  seq. 
Home  rule,  459. 
Homestead  law's,  522. 
Hood,  Gen.,  286. 
Hooker,  Gen.,  331. 
Houck,  Isaac,  48;  his  death,  70. 
House  of  Lords,  English,  446, 
Howard,  Gen.,  78,  340. 
Howard,  Mr.,  of  Ind.,  52. 
Howard,  Sam.  T.,  166. 
Howe,  John  B.,  53. 
Humphreys,    Gen.   A.    A.,   262,    267, 

3^0. 

Hunt,  Ward,  417. 
Hunter,  Eppa,  417. 
Huntington,  E.  M.,  46. 
Immigration,  528. 
Impeachment  of  Pres.  Johnson,  892, 

et  seq. 
Impersonality   of  the    journalism    of 

to-day,  495. 

India  as  a  wheat  producer,  508. 
Indian  agents,  86,  et  seq. 
Indian  traders,  102. 
Indiana,  Northern,  fifty  years  ago,  79. 
Indianapolis  in  1833,  70,  et  seq.' 
Indians,  101,  et  seq.  ;  treatment  by  the 

Government,  101 ;  by  traders,  102. 
Intemperance  in  England,  468. 
Internal  Revenue  System,  238. 
Inventiveness  of  Americans,  469. 
Irish  question.  458,  475. 
Iron  clad  oath,  227. 
Jackson,    President,  his   veto  of  the 

bank  bill,   60  ;  and    States  Rights, 

152  ;  as  President,  297  ;  and  Nulli 
fication.  404. 


INDEX. 


537 


Jenkins,  Thomas  A.,  367. 

Jernigan,  J.  L . ,  94. 

John,  Miss,  166. 

Johnson,  President,  his  first  message, 
220;  and  Mrs.  Surratt,  226;  elected 
Vice-President,  344,  369,  et  seq.  ; 
his  career  369,  et  seq.;  his  speeches 
in  the  Senate,  372  ;  his  inaugural 
speech,  372«;  his  speeches  while 
President,  374 ;  his  conduct  after  the 
assassination  of  Lincoln,  375,  et  seq.; 
his  integrity,  377 ;  reconstruction 
policy,  378  ;  hostility  of  Congress  to, 
381  ;  extract  from  his  first  message, 
382 ;  weakness  and  blunders  of,  391; 
suspends  Secretary  Stanton,  391,  et 
seq.;  his  impeachment,  392,  ct  seq.; 
characterization  of,  403,  et  seq.;  ex 
aggeration  of  his  faults,  407 ;  his 
patriotism,  406,  et  seq.;  sends  Mr. 
McCulloch  to  visit  Jefferson  Davis 
at  Fortress  Monroe,  409,  et  seq.;  his 
death,  412  ;  as  Vice-President,  481. 

Johnston,  General  Joseph  E.,  272, 
285  ;  his  opinion  of  Sherman's 
march  through  the  Carolines,  290, 
291,  et  seq.;  convention  of,  with  Gen 
eral  Sherman  for  the  surrender  of 
the  Confederate  army,  291. 

Journal,  the,  of  Louisville,  491,  492. 

Journalism,  its  present  status,  490  ; 
former  character  of,  495. 

Judah,  Samuel,  52. 

Judkins,  Captain,  423. 

Kansas  anti-slavery  struggle,  157. 

Kearney,  Gen. ,  340. 

Kennebunk,  5,  12. 

Kennebunkport,  12. 

Kennedv,  Andrew,  53. 

Kirk,  MV.,  84. 

Knox,  John  Jay,  170. 

Labor  and  capital,  489. 

Labor,  foreign,  demand  for,  created  by 
protective  tariff,  506. 

Labor,  diminishing  value  of,  488  ;  con 
tests  with  capital,  489. 

Laboring  classes,  antagonism  of,  to 
the  rich,  521 

Land,  free  ownership  of,  473 ;  owner 
ship  of,  in  Great  Britain.  436,  474  ; 
value  of,  depends  on  labor,  523,  et 
seq. ;  value  of,  in  cities,  526. 

Landed  aristocracy,  522. 

Landed  property,  discussions  concern 
ing.  522. 

Lane,  Henry  S.,  49,  53. 

Lane,  Jonathan  H..  262,  267.  et  seq. 

Lanier,  J.  F.  D.,  123. 

Laporte,  Ind.,  91. 


Lawrence,  Lord  John,  460. 

Legal  tender,  Daniel  Webster,  on  499  ; 
decision  of  Supreme  Court  concern 
ing,  499. 

Legal  Tender  Acts,  171,  et  seq.  ;  their 
constitutionality,  172,  et  seq. 

Legal  tender  notes,  136,  et  seq.  ;  de 
cision  of  Supreme  Court  on,  137. 

Legislative  branch  of  our  government, 
452. 

Lewis,  Samuel,  106.  * 

Liberal  thought,  progress  of,  in  N.  E., 
33. 

Lincoln,  President,  93  ;  election  of, 
151  ;  after  Bull  Run,  161  ;  his  com 
ment  on  the  blunders  of  the  Demo 
crats,  162  ;  his  high  opinion  of  Sec 
retary  Chase,  187  ;  characteristics 
of,  188,  et  seq.  ;  makes  Mr.  McCul 
loch  Sec.  of  the  Treasury,  193  ;  his 
assassination,  222,  et  seq.  ;  402,  408. 

Lincoln,  Robert  T.,  Sec.  of  War,  485. 

Little  Turtle,  Chief  of  the  Miamis,  99, 
etseq.,  109. 

Liverpool,  427. 

Livingston,  Edward,  464. 

Loans,  Government,  the  seven  and 
three-tenths,  252,  245  ;  verifying  ac 
counts  of,  247. 

Local  Government,  Great  Britain  de 
ficient  in,  470. 

Logan,  Gen.,  275,  279,  etseq. 

Logansport,  85,  et  seq. 

London,  a  well  governed  city,  437. 

Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  24. 

Lowell,  Jas.  Russell,  496,  498. 

Lowell,  Rev.  Mr.,  28. 

Lyman,  Theodore,  22. 

Lytle,  Gen..  340. 

McCarty,  Nicholas,  72. 

McClellan,  Gen.  Geo.  B.,  297.  et  seq.; 
his  appointment  to  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  297  :  his 
previous  career,  298 ;  his  scheme 
of  operations,  301;  decline  of  his 
popularity,  302 ;  the  President's  lack 
of  confidence  in  him,  304  ;  difficul 
ties  in  his  way,  305;  failure  to  re 
inforce  him  after  Fair  Oaks,  307; 
his  first  advance  on  Richmond.  308; 
his  retreat  on  the  James,  309  ;  de 
prived  of  his  command,  310  ;  ap 
pointed  to  command  the  defence  of 
Washington,  311 ;  dismissal,  314  ; 
alleged  reasons  for  his  retirement, 
315  ;  Mr.  McCulloch's  opinion  con 
cerning  him,  315,  etseq.;  compared 
with  General  Grant,  338. 

McComb,  J.  N.,  262,  269. 


538 


INDEX. 


McCulloch,  Hugh,  leaves  New  Eng 
land  for  the  West,  2,  35 ;  lec 
ture  at  Harvard  University,  25 ; 
with  William  Emerson  in  N.  Y.,  35; 
journey  to  Cincinnati,  36 ;  at  Madi 
son,  Ind.,  46  ;  examined  for  admis 
sion  to  the  bar,  48  ;  in  a  Methodist 
revival  at  Cincinnati,  55;  goes  to 
Indianapolis,  70 ;  licensed  to  prac 
tise  law  in  Indiana,  70  ;  travels  in 
Indiana.  71,  et  seq.;  General  How 
ard  advises  him  to  settle  in  North 
ern  Indiana,  78,  et  seq.;  settles  at 
Fort  Wayne,  95  ;  taken  ill,  111  ; 
embarks  in  the  practice  of  law,  112; 
appointed  manager  of  State  Bank 
of  Indiana,  113  ;  made  president  of 
Bank  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  130  ; 
opinion  of,  on  the  duration  of  the 
war,  159  ;  visits  Washington  after 
Bull  Run,  160  ;  conversation  with 
Mr.  Lincoln,  162  ;  opposes  national 
banking  system,  163 ;  visits  the 
East,  164  ;  is  offered  comptroller- 
ship  of  the  currency  by  Secretary 
Chase,  164,  et  seq.;  his  opinion  on 
the  Legal  Tender  Acts,  172,  et  seq.; 
appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  193  ;  Thurlow  Weed's  interview 
with,  194  ;  his  letter  to  the  National 
Banks,  December,  1863, 195,  et  seq.; 
pursues  an  independent  policy  as 
Secretary  of  Treasury,  199  ;  visits 
New  York  for  consultation  with 
prominent  bankers,  199 ;  speech  of, 
at  Fort  Wayne,  December.  1865, 
201,  et  seq.;  extracts  from  his  reports 
to  Congress,  204,  et  seq.;  views  in 
regard  to  the  national  debt,  204,  et 
seq.;  opinion  concerning  legal  ten 
der  notes,  210  ;  recommendation  to 
Congress  relative  to  resumption  of 
specie  payments,  211  ;  correspond 
ence  with  the  Assistant  Treasurer, 
Mr.  Vandyck,  212;  gives  reasons  for 
great  financial  crises,  218  ;  first  re 
port  to  Congress,  219  ;  last  words 
with  President  Lincoln,  222 ;  with 
Secretary  Seward  after  his  at 
tempted  assassination,  222  ;  inci 
dents  of  President  Lincoln's  assas 
sination,  222,  et  seq.;  communi 
cation  to  President  Johnson  con 
cerning  the  appointment  of  revenue 
officers  in  Southern  States,  228 ; 
attacked  by  Senator  Sumner,  232  ; 
labors  in  investigating  Southern 
claims  against  the  Government, 
235  ;  his  assistants,  236,  et  seq.; 


extracts  from  report  to  Congress, 
1865,  239 ;  instructions  to  David 
A.  Wells,  241 ;  report  of  1867,  241, 
et  seq.;  associates  of  in  Treasury 
Department,  248 ;  views  on  the 
national  debt  and  currency  ques 
tion,  249,  et  seq.;  last  report,  251  ; 
pleasant  acquaintances  in  Wash 
ington,  258,  et  seq.;  the  Scientific 
Club  and  its  members,  261 ;  esti 
mates  of  several  military  com 
manders,  277,  et  seq.;  position  on 
the  tariff  question,  296 ;  address 
of,  at  Fort  Wayne,  379;  opinion 
on  the  elective  franchise,  385 ;  con 
sults  the  President  respecting  the 
appointment  of  revenue  officers,  386; 
visits  Jefferson  Davis  at  Fortress 
Monroe.  409,  et  seq.;  second  appoint 
ment  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
480  ;  intercourse  with  President  Ar 
thur,  481  ;  opinion  of  President 
Hayes,  422  ;  first  impressions  of 
England,  423  ;  conversation  with 
a  London  watchman,  441. 

McCulloch,  Thomas,  Latin  inscription 
over  his  grave,  25. 

McDonald,  Joseph,  137. 

McDowell,  Gen.,  306.  et  seq. 

McPherson,  Gen.,  287,  340. 

McRay,  James,  72. 

Machinery,  changes  wrought  by,  488  ; 
effect  of,  on  labor,  489. 

Maine,  lumber  speculation  in,  215, 
et  seq. 

Manhood  suffrage,  530  ;  unrestricted, 
the  peril  of  the  Republic,  53'2. 

Manufactures,  beginning  of,  5  ;  pro 
moted  by  the  tariff,  503. 

March  to  the  Sea,  the,  288. 

Markets,  the  great  need  of  productive 
interests,  509. 

Marshall,  Chief  Justice,  his  decision 
on  the  power  of  Congress  to  create 
a  legal  tender,  178. 

Marshall,  Joseph  G.,  48. 

Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  letters  on  grad 
ual  emancipation,  36  ;  anecdote  of, 
38,  40. 

Martineau,  Miss,  33. 

Mason,  Jeremiah,  argument  of,  in  favor 
of  railroad  from  Boston  to  Salem,  3  ; 
his  logical  power,  3;  his  appear 
ance,  4,  20. 

Massachusetts,  high  financial  honor 
of,  8. 

Meade,  General,  340. 

Meigs.  M.  C.,  262,  268,  et  seq. 

Merrill,  Samuel,  72,  114,  140. 


INDEX. 


539 


Methodism,  early  days  of,  55  ;  revival 
at  Cincinnati,  55. 

Methodist  conference,  character  of, 
75. 

Methodist  ministers  in  the  West  fifty  j 
years  ago,  76. 

Methodists  and  the  Government,  75. 

Mexican  question  discussed  in  John 
son's  Cabinet,  386. 

Mexican  war,  64,  et  seq. 

Miami  Indians,  110. 

Michigan  road,  the,  from  Indianapo 
lis  to  Lake  Michigan,  79. 

Military  Presidents,  297. 

Miller,  "Samuel  F.,  417. 

Mississippi,  University  of,  260. 

Mitchell,  General,  340. 

Monitor  and  Virginia,  427,  364,  et 
seq. 

Monopolies  in  the  United  States,  531. 

Morrill,  Justin  S..  163. 

Morrison,  James,  114. 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  72,  et  seq.,  417. 

Motley,  Mr.,  354. 

Nashville,  battle  of,  276. 

National  Banks,  organization  of,  167  ; 
objections  to  them,  168. 

National  debt  in  1860,  182  ;  total  in 
1865,  243  ;  Mr.  McCulloch's  views 
on,  248  ;  items  of,  in  1865,  252  ;  its 
compensations,  472  ;  will  not  be  re 
duced  by  direct  taxation,  472;  a  bur 
den,  473. 

National  Intelligencer,  the,  of  Wash 
ington,  490,  492. 

Naturalization  laws,  515,  532. 

Navy,  the,  in  the  war,  362,  et  seq. 

Newcome,  Simon,  262.  266. 

New  England,  change  in  population 
of,  7  ;  changes  in  theology,  10. 

New  Orleans  banks,  commercial  honor 
of,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebell 
ion,  139. 

New  Orleans,  41. 

New  York,  in  1833,  35. 

Newspapers,  increase  of,  480,  et  seq. 

Newton,  Heber,  quoted,  109. 

Nichols,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Portland,  29. 

Niles,  John  B.,  53. 

North  American  Review,  495,  et  seq. 

Nullification  in  South  Carolina,  152, 
464. 

Office,  appointments  to,  452. 

Office-seekers,  452. 

Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Co.,  132. 

Ohio  river,  boating  on,  in  1833,  36  ; 
commerce  of,  41,  44. 

Orr,  James  L.,  457. 

"Orthodox  "  and  Unitarians,  11. 


Otis,  Harrison  Gray,  22,  et  seq. 

Palfrey,  Hev.  Mr., "28. 

Palmer,  Gen.,  340. 

Parker,  Peter,  262,  265. 

Parker,  Samuel,  20,  50. 

Parker,  Theodore,  15. 

Party  ties,  467  ;  the  claims  of,  on  a 
President,  486. 

Patent  Bureau,  469. 

Patent  Laws  in  U.  S.  and  Great  Brit 
ain,  470. 

Pauper's  Exchange,  440. 

Payne,  Henry  B.,  417, 

Peabody,  Augustus,  463. 

Peale,  Titian  H.,  2<i2,  268. 

Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  CJ.  S.,  58, 
59 ;  failure  of,  60. 

Personalities,  journalistic,  494. 

Petroleum,  Russian,  508. 

Pierpont,  Rev.  Mr.,  28. 

Pierrepont,  Edwards,  358. 

Pioneering  in  Indiana,  80,  83. 

Pleading,  special,  92. 

Poe.  0.  M.,  262,  269. 

Porter,  Admiral  David  D.,  367. 

Postage,  rates  of,  fifty  years  ago,  122. 

Potomac,  Army  of,  301,  et  seq. 

Pratt,  Mr.,  of  Saco,  10. 

Prentice,  George  D.,  491,  493. 

President  of  U.  S.  compared  with 
British  Prime  Minister,  451  ;  his 
appointing  power,  452  ;  office  of, 
difficult  to  fill,  481. 

Prince  of  Wales,  450. 

Proffit,  Geo.  H.,  52. 

Protection.  504,  et  seq,;  was  to  be 
temporary,  507  ;  no  longer  needed 
for  our  manufacturers,  510 ;  un 
reasonable,  511. 

Puritanism  in  N.  E.,  33. 

Putnam,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Roxbury,  28. 

Quartermaster's  Department,  269,  et 
seq.;  statistics  of,  274. 

Queen  of  England,  the,  448,  et  seq. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  23. 

Railroad  from  Boston  to  Salem,  3. 

Railroads,  their  influence  on  national 
wealth,  42  ;  stimulated  by  redun 
dant  currency.  508. 

Randall,  Samuel,  457. 

Rank  in  England,  444,  et  seq. 

Rathbone,  Geo.  W.,  165. 

Rattlesnake,  adventure  with,  85. 

Rawlins,  General,  352. 

Ray,  James  M.,  298. 

Reconstruction  Act,  515. 

Reconstruction,  errors  of,  518. 

Reconstruction  Policy  the,  of  Presi 
dent  Johnson,  378,  'at  seq. 


540 


INDEX. 


Religious  sentiment  weaker  than  na-  j 
tional  feeling,  75. 

Reno,  General,  340. 

Rents  in  London,  437. 

Republicanism  less  strong  now  than 
formerly  in  U.  S.,  531. 

Resumption  of  specie  payments,  first 
Act  of  Congress  concerning,  211. 

Revenue  Agents,  Southern,  appoint 
ment  of,  227. 

Revenue  Commission,  238,  et  seq. 

Reynolds,  General,  340. 

Richardville,  John  B.,  Chief  of  the 
Miamis,  99,  109. 

Ricketts,  General,  340. 

"  Richmond,  Arthur,"  496. 

Ripley,  George,  28. 

River  traffic  fifty  years  ago,  41,  44. 

Robeson,  Geo.  M.,  352. 

Robinson,  George  F.,  223. 

Rosecrans,  Gen.  W.  S.,  328,  et  seq. 

"  Russia,"  steamship,  424. 

St.  Giles,  rag  fair  at,  440. 

Sample,  Samuel  C.,  89. 

Santo  Domingo,  the  annexation  of, 
353. 

Savage,  M.  J.,  32. 

Schaeffer,  George  C.,  262,  267. 

Schenck,  Robert  C.,  62,  36;  elected 
to  Congress,  67  ;  appointed  Minister 
to  England,  67  ;  his  career  there,  68, 
et  seq. 

Schofield,  General,  340,  347,  352  ;  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  War,  403. 

Scientific  Club  at  Washington,  261. 

Scotch,  the  habits  of,  459. 

"Scotia,"  steamer,  423. 

Secession  accomplished,  158  ;  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  a  pretext  for,  only, 
151 ;  financial  disturbance  conse 
quent  upon,  135  ;  preparations  for, 
157. 

Sectional  feeling  between  North  and 
South  excited  by  Ilayne  debate,  18; 
exhibited  on  the  occasion  of  a  horse 
race,  18. 

Sedgwick,  Gen.,  340. 

Senate  and  the  British  House  of  Lords, 
452, 

Seward,  Sec.,  murder  of,  222,  et  seq.; 
and  the  invasion  of  Mexico,  388,  et 
seq. 

Seymour,  Horatio,  345. 

Shaw,  Chief  Justice,  20. 

Sheridan,  Gen.  P.  H.,  280,  et  seq. 

Sherman,  Gen.  W.  T.,  282.  et  seq.;  his 
terms  for  the  surrender  of  Johnston's 
army,  290,  et.  seq.;  disapproved  by 
the  Cabinet,  291. 


Sherman.  Senator,  his  explanation  of 
the  appointment  of  Southern  reve 
nue  agents,  232. 

Shipping,  American,  decline  of,  457, 
et  seq.;  Mr.  McCulloch's  report  to 
Congress  on.  501  ;  how  restored. 
505. 

Shipping,  British,  457. 

Shopkeepers,  the  English  regard  for. 
socially,  435. 

Sickles,  Gen.,  340. 

Simpson,  Bishop,  76. 

Singing  in  the  Harrison  campaign,  54. 

Slavery,  first  ecclesiastical  opposition 
to,  33;  aggressive  character  of, 
fatal  to  it,  34 ;  question  of,  in  the 
South,  153  ;  hostility  to,  in  Northern 
States,  156  ;  extension  of,  opposed, 
157. 

Slocum,  Gen.,  340. 

Smith,  Gen.  C.  P.,  323,  340,  343. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  411. 

Social  distinctions  in  England,  435. 

South  Bend,  Indiana,  88. 

South  Carolina  and  Secession,  151. 

Sparks,  Mr.,  ordination  of,  in  Balti 
more,  1819,  11,  28. 

Spaulding  (It.  C.)  Bishop,  anecdote 
of,  9. 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons, 456. 

Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  456,  457. 

Specie  payments  suspended,  119,  133, 
135. 

Speculation  in  Maine.  215,  et  seq. 

Speed,  James,  385,  391. 

Spencer,  John,  108. 

Spinner,  Gen.,  U.  S.  Treasurer,  214, 
246. 

Stage  coach  between  Boston  and  Port 
land,  4. 

Stanbery,  Henry,  Attorney-General, 
386.  400.  412,  413. 

Standard  Oil  Co.,  531. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  Sec.  of  War,  and 
Mrs.  Surratt,  226  ;  280,  301,  385  ; 
resigns.  40^,  406. 

State  Bank  of  Indiana,  organization 
of,  113  ;  its  management,  114  ; 
profits,  115,  et  seq.  ;  character  of  its 
loans,  116,  117;  stockholders  of ,  118; 
notes,  119;  expiration  of  charter, 
120  ;  its  history,  121 :  its  managers, 
121 ;  a  monopoly,  124. 

State's  rights  doctrine,  498. 

Steadman,  Gen.,  340. 

Steamships,  ocean,  fifty  years  ago,  424  ; 
changes  in,  425. 

Stewart.  Alex.  B.,  348. 


541 


Stewart,  Dr.,  of  Andover,  11. 

Stewart,  John  A.,  226. 

Stone,  Lucy,  51. 

Strong  and  Bradley,  Justices,  reason  for 
their  appointment,  173. 

Strong,  Justice,  argument  of,  in  Sec 
ond  Legal  Tender  Case,  174 ;  its 
error,  11'}. 

Strong,  William,  417. 

Subsidies  to  steamships,  505. 

Suffrage,  unrestricted  manhood,  529, 
et  seq.  ;  danger  in,  521. 

Sullivan,  Algernon  S.,  47. 

Sullivan,  Jeremiah.  46,  et  seq. 

Sumner,  Gen. ,  340. 

Sumner,  Prof . ,  on  the  silver  question, 
119. 

Sumner,  Senator,  his  attack  on  Sec. 
McC'ulloch,  232  ;  his  prejudice 
against  the  South,  233  ;  character 
istics  of,  233,  et  seq.  ;  his  opposition 
to  the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo, 
354,  et  seq. 

Sumter,  Fort,  attack  on,  159. 

Sunday  in  London,  439. 

Supreme  Court,  decision  of,  on  Legal 
Tender  Acts,  172,  et  seq. 

Surratt,  Miss,  225. 

Surratt,  Mrs.,  225. 

Swain,  Major  D.  G.,  421. 

Swayne,  Noah  H.,  417. 

Tariff  question,  the,  295  ;  Mr.  Mc- 
Culloch's  position  upon,  296,  462, 
et  seq.  ;  an  economic  question,  464  ; 
the  war  tariff  bill  of  1862,  465  ;  the 
Walker  tariff  bill  of  1846,  465  ; 
revision  of,  466  ;  tariff  commission, 
the  need  of  a,  467  ;  should  be  re 
duced  to  a  revenue  standard,  473  ; 
a  modification  of,  needed,  505,  507; 
its  bearing  on  commerce,  511. 

Tax  on  imports  a  necessity,  509. 

Taxes  in  the  United  States,  461 ;  indi 
rect,  461  ;  in  Great  Britain,  lower 
and  more  equitable  than  in  the 
United  States,  462  ;  direct  and  in 
direct,  472. 

Taylor,  Father,  the  sailor  preacher, 
29,  et  seq.;  eloquence  of,  31. 

Taylor,  R.  W.,  249. 

Taylor,  Win.  B.,  262,  268. 

Temperance  reform  in  Great  Britain, 

468. 

Temperance  society,  an  early,  100. 
Tenure  of  office  bill,  391,  394.  453. 
Terry.  General.  A.  H.,  340. 
Thomas,  General  George  H. ,  274,  et 

seq. 
Thomas,  General  Lorenzo,  391,395. 


Thompson,  Dr.  Lewis  G.,  93.  Ill,  107. 
Thurman,  Senator  Allen  G.,  417,  496. 
Tilden.  Samuel  J.,  413,  et  seq.,  421. 
Tileston,  Thomas.  200. 
Tipton,    Senator    John,    86,    et  seq., 

109. 
Tolerance  in  theology  fatal  to  growth, 

32. 

Training,  a  military,  fifty  years  ago,  84. 
Treasury   Department,    alleged  inter 
ference  of,  in  the  stock  and  money 

markets,  255  ;  officials  of,  248,  et  seq. 
Tribune,  the,  of  New  York,  491,  493. 
Trinity,  the  doctrine  of,  in  New  Eng 
land  fifty  years  ago,  10. 
Trumbull,  Senator,  398. 
Trusts,  531. 

Tyler,  Vice-President,  481. 
Union   sentiment    in   Indiana,  before 

Sumter,  156. 
Union  Telegraph  Co.,   remark  of  the 

President  of,  420. 
Unitarian  Churches,  the  first  to  oppose 

slavery,  33. 
Unitarianism,  change  in,  15  ;   palmy 

days  of,  32 ;  causes  of  its  decline,  32. 
Unitarians,     the     followers     of     Dr. 

Channing,  11. 
United  States,  gain  in  wealth  through 

canals  and  railroads,  1  ;  increase  in 

population,  2. 
United  States  Government  compared 

with  that  of  Great  Britain,  451. 
Upham,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Portsmouth,  29. 
Van  Burcn,  President,  administration 

of,  53. 

Van  Winkle,  Senator,  398. 
Vandyck,   Mr.,    Assistant    Treasurer, 

212,  256. 

Vice-Presidents,  the,  481. 
Virginia,  her  debt,  514. 
Voorhees,  Daniel  W.,  74. 
Wabash  &  Erie  Canal  &  Railroad,  98. 
Wade,  Benjamin  F. ,  Senator,  400. 
|  Wadsworth,  Gen.,  340. 
Wages  in  America  and  Great  Britain, 

510. 

Waite,  Morrison  R.,  352,  417. 
Walker,  Mr.,  of  Treasury  Department, 

223. 

Walker,  Rev.  Mr.  ,28. 
Walker,  Robert  J.,  465. 
Wallace.  General,  Lew,  106,  340. 
Wallace,  General,  W.  W.,  340. 
Ware,  Rev.  Henry,  28. 
Washburne,  Elihu,  B.,  347. 
Washington,  General,  98. 
Watts,  John  W. ,  420. 
Wayne,  General  Anthony,  98,  et  seq. 


542 


INDEX. 


Webb,  General,  301. 

Webb,  James  Watson,  490,  491. 

Webster,  Daniel,  16  ;  his  debate  with 
Hayne,  17 ;  his  high  qualifications, 
18,  et  seq. ;  anecdotes  of,  19  ;  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  23  ;  speech  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  71 ;  on  the  power  of  the  Gov 
ernment  to  create  a  legal  tender, 
499. 

Weed,  Thuriow,  interview  of, with  Mr. 
McCulloch,  194. 

Wells,  David  A.,  237,  239,  et  seq.  ; 
Mr.  McCuIloch's  instructions  to,241. 

West,  growth  of  the,  96. 


Wheat,  low  price  of,  430. 
Wheeler,  Wm.  H.,  413. 
Whitman,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Portland,  29. 
Williams,  Jesse  L.,  107. 
Wilson,  Dr.,  of  Cincinnati,  12. 
Wilson,  Miss,  166. 
Wines,  Marshal  S. ,  108. 
Winthrop  Robert  C.,  457. 
Women,    their  legal  rights   in   Indi 
ana,  52. 

Wood,  Gen.,  340. 
Worden,  Admiral,  365. 
Workingmen  of  London,  441. 
Wright,  Governor,  of  Indiana,  127,138. 


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